The Next Generation
by Autumn's Wind
Summary: Sasuke comes back to Konoha and now that team 7 is reunited, they are better known as the next Legendary Sannin. When some hard moments occur in their lives Sasuke realizes he has waited long enough and wants to get Sakura back. SasuSaku Enjoy it...
1. Memories

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

By Autumn's Wind

**I. Memories**

It was already midnight by the time three ANBU were done with their job. The guys they had to kill were really tough and it took them over half an hour to kill them. It wasn't an S-rank mission for nothing. Now, the only thing they had to do is get rid of the bodies.

When they were done, they sat on the ground to rest for a few minutes.

"These guys were so hard to get...we were only three and they were like...fifteen?" one of them said. The others nodded in agreement. But one of the other two couldn't help but let memories flood him.

_A 19 years old man was walking towards the gates of Konoha. The guards immediately rose to their feet when they see the figure getting closer and when they realized who that was, they got a shock. it was none other than...Uchiha Sasuke. _

_He finally decided to come back to Konoha. After killing his older brother, when he was sixteen, he decided he needed some time to clear up his mind and he did that by traveling alone all over the world. He met with his old team...team seven...weeks after he began traveling and they begged him to come back home but he had to explain his reasons this time and they all agreed with the condition of him to come back after a year. _

_But three years passed after that moment. He was wondering how much did they change and how will they treat him for prolonging his travel. But his thoughts were interrupted when a few ANBU appeared to get him to the Hokage. _

_They didn't need to drag him throughout Konoha as Sasuke agreed to come with them willingly. In a few minutes they were in front of the Hokage office and they soon entered._

_Inside of it, was the Hokage accompanied by Shizune. Tsunade dismissed the ANBU, letting only the Uchiha with her and Shizune._

_"You're finally back, huh? You promised to come one two ago and I want a good explanation for this." she demanded with a frown on her face._

_"I had a lot of things on my mind and I didn't felt like going back here..." he asked emotionless._

_"But you do know that you betrayed Konoha and you know the results of that, do you?" she asked as she put her head in her hands._

_"I am aware of that"_

_"Good, but...since you came back willingly and you are a very skilled shinobi your detention will be shorten, which means you will go to jail for a month, after you get out you will do several community services and you will be able to take your exams if you behave..." the Hokage continued, receiving a nod from the Uchiha. _

_But as she was about to continue, Naruto popped into the office with an angered yet determined expression._

_"You.." he said as he pointed Sasuke "You said you will come back after a year...not THREE!" he yelled the last part. _

_The Hokage was getting angrier by the minute._

_"Naruto, you brat...how many times do I have to tell you not to burst into my office and yell like a maniac?" she yelled back. Naruto noticed her bad mood and put a nervous smile on his face before turning back to his old teammate._

_"Sorry about that...what are you going to do with him?" he asked._

_"I'm sending him to jail" she answered. Naruto froze for a moment, not knowing what to say anymore. _

_"How long?"_

_"One month...I had to argue with the elders but they agreed he did us all a favor by killing Itachi and..Orochimaru"_

_Naruto nodded in agreement. _

_Sasuke eyed Naruto and expected him to yell and all that, but was surprised when he agreed._

_"I see...I guess I can't do anything about it, nor Sakura..."_

_"This is my final decision..."_

_"Have you spoken to her?"_

_"No...she is busy attending a squad that just came back so I'll talk to her later..."_

_"But..." Naruto tried to say._

_"Naruto, I can't interrupt her, you know that"_

_"Ok...when will you sent Sasuke there?" he asked._

_"Today...the sooner he starts to best it is for him, right Sasuke?" the Hokage asked looking at him. He just nodded in agreement._

_For the next month, Sasuke sat in jail, as a punishment for betraying Konoha. However, he was very lucky for being the last Uchiha. Being the only user of Sharingan, besides Kakashi, was truly in his advantage. Konoha needed his abilities and he knew it very well. And if it weren't for the fact that he killed two dangerous S-rank missing-nin, who were a big threat for Konoha he probably would have stayed in jail a lot longer... But he still had to be punished somehow for not trusting Konoha and joining the enemy no matter what his reasons were. Also, he had to be an example for all the shinobi. Whoever betrays Konoha is punished._

_But he was still pissed off from time to time. He didn't like this place and luckily for him, this was his last day there._

_By the time he was about to get out of jail he was greeting by his old team in a complete formula. When he came back he had only seen Kakashi and Naruto, but no Sakura as she was supposedly too busy at that moment to come and see him. _

_The three of them sat there waiting for Sasuke to come out. Naruto was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed and hands behind his neck. His hair was a bit longer and he was wearing the same orange pants but with a black blouse and the Konoha jounin vest...and he seemed to be...'sleeping?' Sasuke asked himself as he raised an eyebrow at him. Kakashi was sitting on a chair too, still the same with the newest book from the Icha Icha collection. The last one was Sakura who was leaning on the wall with arms crossed and looked pretty tired too, as her eyes were almost closed. Her hair was still short and she had her ninja boots, black shorts, the jounin vest and fingerless gloves, just like Kakashi's. _

_Sasuke stood there watching the tired shinobi for a few seconds before Kakashi spoke first._

_"How long are you going to keep staying there?" he asked a small smile visible through the mask. _

_"Yeah...don't tell me you enjoyed your staying in prison..." Naruto asked with a grin as he still had his eyes closed. Sasuke just glared at him. _

_"You guys still haven't changed...after all these years I thought you might have matured a bit, but I see you still have to compete every time..." Sakura said as she turned to face Sasuke. She smiled a bit before saying "Welcome back and sorry if I wasn't there when you came back". He looked at her and somehow was surprised that she didn't hugged him 'til he was out of breath. _

_Man these people keep surprising him. After all these years looks like everyone has matured and now he wondered how strong they really were. _

_"Now if you are back why don't we go to the training grounds...just like the old times?" Kakashi asked closing his book and looking over the window. Everyone nodded and they soon they headed towards the said place._

_When they reached there, they were flooded by the memories from when they were twelve. _

_"We were so silly up there" Sakura said as she remembered every single time when she acted like a fangirl of Sasuke's. _

_"Yup...but we have grown up since then" Naruto said as he looked at the sky with a determined look. Sasuke looked at his teammates and he could feel the nostalgia in the air. _

_"Hn" _

_"But we are together again..." Sakura said as she smiled._

_"Yup...team 7 is reunited now, so let's get to work" Kakashi said. The other nodded and got themselves ready. _

_"Today you are going to learn to be a team again, got it?" he asked while the others nodded._

_"You will have that bell test again...I know that for Sakura and Naruto it's the third time we do it but I came with some improvements so don't think that this is going to be a lot easier now..."_

_"Come on...of course it will be a lot easier now that we have Sasuke with us" Naruto yelled. _

_"Indeed...that's why I brought reinforcements" Kakashi said with a soft smirk on his face._

_"Huh?" Sakura asked. But seconds later Kurenai and Gai appeared next to Kakashi._

_"Me, Kurenai and Gai will form a team, while Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke will be the other one...so my team will have the bells and you will have to steal them from us"_

_"Cool" Naruto said lifting his fist in air._

He still remembered that day well. How team 7 fought to steal the bells from Kakashi, Kurenai and Gai. They fought all day long but after all these years of training they managed to trick them and steal the bells. That was Sakura's idea. By placing an advanced genjutsu on the other team they managed to distract them and before Kurenai could release it the bells were already gone.

They definitely grew stronger over the years. If things kept going like this Naruto would definitely going to be Hokage. It was now two years since he has returned to Konoha and they were all 21 years old. Naruto and Sakura joined Anbu a few months before he came back to Konoha but they went on normal missions from time to time. Sasuke had to pass to chunin, then jounin exam and soon after that he joined ANBU too, so now he, Sakura and Naruto formed a squad.

And the more successful missions they had, the more they resembled the Legendary Sannin and some people often told them that they will be the next Legendary Sannin...

* * *

A / N: To be continued...please leave behind a review to let me know what is your opinion about this plot. I have been thinking about writing this fanfic for quite some time, although I had some difficulty at first...this is a SasuSaku fanfic and probably this first chapter wasn't such a big deal...I tend to do the first chapters a bit boring but the second one will be more sasusaku...I will update one of these days because I have a lot of work to do for school (T.T)

See you soon.


	2. A serious threat

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**II. A serious threat**

They were now at the gates of Konoha after a tough mission. After they entered the Hidden Village of the Leaf they headed toward the Hokage office. By the time they reached there, they were met by a scared Shizune and a pissed off Tsunade.

"Are you sure you guys want to come in?" the blond ANBU whispered to his teammates as he stood in the door-frame.

"You aren't going to run away like scared chicken just because she is having a bad day, are you?" the pink-haired kunoichi whispered back, while the other one just looked at the Hokage.

"Tsunade-shishou" the pink-haired woman greeted the Hokage as she bowed respectful. "Mission accomplished" she continued. The Hokage looked at her and she smiled at her apprentice. She was always so respectful and she always calmed her down. She let her head lean in her hands as she sighed loudly.

"Perfect...you can have your day off...but before you go I would like to discuss something with you three."

The blond male sighed in relief.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke...I have reasons to think that a new war is threatening us..." at hearing the Hokage's words the three ANBU immediately paid attention. Sakura also realized the reason behind her mentor's bad mood.

"Why do you think such thing?" she asked as she took off her ANBU mask revealing her pale face and green eyes. Tsunade sighed.

"Well...I found out the ninja you had to eliminate were sent to set camps around Konoha in order to spy our every movements...they were about fifteen right? Well they were about to be spread around Konoha...to encircle it, in other words, and so they would have been able to watch us without any detail escaping from them..."

"But how did you manage to intercept them?" Naruto asked after he took his mask off, as well as Sasuke. Tsunade smirked at this.

"I had my sources..." she said proudly as a man appeared behind her with his back at hers.

"Did you forget me so easily Naruto?" the man said. His long white hair made it clear that it was...

"Ero-sennin..." Naruto said as he pointed toward the man. He smirked while looking outside the window.

"Who else?" And then he turned around to face the others. "How long has it been? A few months and you already forgot about me?" he asked again. Naruto rubbed his back with a nervous smile on his face.

"Ok...enough of it...Jiraiya was the one who informed me about the enemy's plans...and now that we found out about their plans we have no other choice but to play their game and enter the war...they would seek revenge for the killed shinobi, anyway..." the Hokage continued receiving nods from the others. "What I want from you is to take this day off and have some rest, but don't let your guard down...war may start at any moment, today or in months"

"But what are their intentions...why would they want a war against us?" Sakura asked confused.

"I will explain this to you later...now go get some sleep...you look terrible" Tsunade said. The others nodded and left the office leaving only Tsunade with Jiraiya.

"Do you think they will attack soon?" Tsunade asked worried.

"Who knows?" Jiraiya shrugged.

-x-

Meanwhile, team 7 was getting out of the Hokage tower.

"This is so strange...out of the sudden we find ourselves with war threatening us..." Sakura wondered as she stared at the sky. Naruto was at her right and nodded while Sasuke was at her left and said nothing.

Since they came back from the battle he often found himself spacing out and thinking about his past. They fought hard last night and both Naruto and Sakura proved to be very skilled shinobi.

Especially Sakura...not only she had her monstrous strength and healing abilities that already surpassed her teacher's, but in the past years she also improved in other jutsu. Last night she even saved his life and probably that's why he kept remembering the past.

_Team 7 was split now and each of them had to fight 5 shinobi. All three of them had a hard time for the foreign shinobi proved to be very skilled._

_Sakura was fighting at the border of the forest and was dodging the various shuriken and kunai thrown in her direction. She managed to block a few with her katana when she wasn't fast enough to avoid the attack and from time to time she glanced at her other teammates to check on them. _

_Naruto was the closest to her and was having his hard time too. He created various bunshin and managed to get two down with his rasengan._

_Sasuke used his chidori to get three of the shinobi down but after fighting so hard he began to feel tired, as well as Naruto. But they weren't feeling tired just because of the fight but because they barely came back from another mission before being sent to deal with these shinobi._

_Sakura noticed her comrades were beginning to feel tired and she tried to kill the foreigners faster. She, too, managed to kill three of her shinobi and by the time she was about to kill the fourth she glanced at her teammates again and she caught a glimpse of a kunai thrown at Sasuke who apparently didn't noticed it. Instead of continuing her attack she immediately threw her katana with all her strength in front of Sasuke so that it could block the kunai heading toward him._

_Sasuke was busy fighting a shinobi and noticed a katana which passed inches from his face but blocked the kunai heading toward him. He froze for two seconds before realizing the katana that flew before him belonged to Sakura. He glanced at her and saw her fighting with two other shinobi, throwing punches at them. He concentrated back to the battle, thinking of a way to thank her later..._

Now he was walking next to his teammates, still thinking of a way to thank her for saving his life. If it wasn't for her katana being thrown in order to block the kunai heading toward his head he, probably, would have noticed the kunai too late and he wouldn't be able to walk now. After they killed the last shinobi Sakura retrieved her katana by herself and he couldn't help but feel a bit stupid for not retrieving it to her himself, that being an opportunity to thank her.

They kept walking in Konoha for a couple of minutes, all three of them with different things on their mind. Sasuke was confused as he didn't know why was he suddenly feeling bad for not thanking Sakura, Naruto was asking himself what to do with Hinata, now that he discovered his feelings for her, and Sakura...well she was rather confused by this threatening war.

From time to time Sasuke glanced at Sakura and saw how deep in thoughts was she. He supposed it was about the imminence of the war but as he looked at her he felt rather strange. Since he came back to Konoha he noticed she grew up and was now a matured woman. She was a lot more beautiful than last time he saw her, and even during his travels he often thought of her and he realized he missed Konoha...he missed her...

Sakura was one of the reasons he decided to prolong his travels. He was very confused and he knew he cared for her. But, of course he was too proud to admit it. He was too proud to admit such weakness, because in his opinion, love was just a weakness and he wouldn't allow himself to be weak. That's why he decided to stay away from Konoha for some time. Not only because he was the only living Uchiha, but he had killed his own brother.

He thought he would have felt extremely pleased after he killed his brother, but after doing so, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.

And now he was back in Konoha for over a year. He was now 20 years old...a skilled ANBU. He knew he still had to fulfill the second part of his plans...the restoration of the Uchiha clan. But he didn't actually feel like doing so for now. He enjoyed going on missions with his old teammates. With team seven...with _Sakura_...

But his thoughts were interrupted by the pink-haired woman that decided she had enough of this walk and she was going home to get some rest. Before they could say anything she disappeared in a whirlwind of cherry blossoms petals.

Having nothing to do, the boys separated too and went to their homes to rest as Sakura.

When she reached her apartment Sakura didn't even bother to change her clothes and went straight to bed, falling asleep soon after that.

The same story was with Naruto, but Sasuke still had trouble with his thoughts. When he came back to Konoha he would have expected her to hug him, tell him how much she loved him and how much she was glad that he, finally, came back...but instead of that, she just stood there, barely even looking at him and just said a welcome back and apologized for not seeing him before his detention...How could someone change so much?

He kept thinking all over again about her for another five minutes before he fell, too, in a deep slumber.

The next morning team seven met again at the training grounds. They planned on doing another training session together with their ex-sensei.

But, of course, he would be late and Naruto and Sakura will be pissed off for wasting time waiting for him.

Instead of waiting, Sasuke and Naruto started sparing, while Sakura was reading a book. Not one from the Icha Icha collection but a simple novel. She started liking reading novels from time to time and she now discovered one which was very interesting.

"Hey...Sakura-chan what are you reading...'Icha Icha'?" Naruto asked with a devilish grin. At hearing his words Sakura's face turned crimson, both from embarrassment and anger, and unable to control herself threw her book at Naruto, who barely dodged it. He stood up again and picked up the book, examining it.

"Hmm...So it's not from Icha Icha" he said with the same devilish grin.

"You baka...are you trying to get me angered this morning, because if so, just tell and I'll make sure you won't get out of the hospital for a week..." she said as she closed her eyes in order to relax.

The next second Naruto was next to her with his left arm around her shoulder and in his right hand the book.

"Oi...I was just joking Sakura." he said as he handed her the book "but since you 'inherited' Kakashi's habit of reading, tomorrow we might see you reading one of those perverted books.." he said with the same devilish grin on his face before making a few hand seals, making sure that when he finished his sentence he will disappear.

At hearing his words Sakura felt that she couldn't get any angrier than this and was ready to beat Naruto to a pulp, when he disappeared.

"That idiot...to challenge me like this and then disappear...COWARD!" she yelled furiously.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was watching the whole scene with a big smirk on his face.

"You know he is right...being careful not to turn like that perverted sensei..." he said with a mocking tone. Sakura's face was once again in a deep red.

"I'm not Kakashi." she yelled launching at him. She barely missed his head and he grabbed her right arm, then her left one, and put them both behind her back. She was now unable to move with her back at the Uchiha.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys, today? First Naruto and now you?" she asked harshly.

"Now...did no one tell you to control yourself?" he asked back.

"You're the same bastard I see..." she said before lifting her foot to kick the Uchiha. But he already had his Sharingan activated and he easily avoided her kick, letting her go.

She was about to launch at him again when the Icha Icha reader appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Yo...what did I miss?" Kakashi asked with a soft smile visible behind the mask. He looked curiously at the angered Sakura and the smirking Sasuke. And Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"What did Naruto do this time?" he asked Sakura. She leaned on a nearby tree, crossed her arms at her chest and closed her eyes.

"He mistook me..." she said in a low voice "for you"

Kakashi raise an eyebrow at this.

"How come..." he asked but then he noticed the book next to Sakura and he knew what she meant.

"You know...you can always come at me to borrow one of these" he said as he pointed to one of his famous books. Sakura's face was once again red and she couldn't take it anymore.

"YOU TOO?" she yelled "I can't believe it...all of my three comrades have turned against me...what is this day?'Make Sakura angry'? She continued yelling.

"Not interested..." she continued as a pout was put on her face. Kakashi chuckled at her expression while Sasuke just stared into the woods.

"So...I guess that we will have to do our training without Naruto..." Kakashi said but he couldn't finish as Naruto suddenly jumped from a tree next to Sakura. He again grabbed her shoulders.

"I hope you aren't mad at me..." he said with a smile on his face. Sakura looked at him and smiled back.

"I know you like getting on my nerves recently...you sure have to have some guts...other people will be scared to death if they got me this angered..." she continued with a smirk on her face. Naruto rubbed his neck and laughed nervously.

"Who said I wasn't scared?" he continued and they both laughed.

Team seven started their training short after that. They, now, concentrated on their training. After all, if war was going to burst out soon, they had to be ready for anything.

A few hours later they stood on the ground breathing heavily.

"I guess...that's all for now..." Sakura said.

"Yeah...good job everyone...I'm proud of you three..." Kakashi said with a smile on his face. After finishing his sentence he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I guess I will have to go, see Hinata..." Naruto said. He stood up and so did the others.

They walked on the streets before Naruto left them so that now, the only ones left were Sakura and Sasuke. They kept silent, both unable to find a subject to talk.

"I'll just go home..." Sakura said and she was about to make some hand seals when someone called her.

"Sakura-san..." she turned around and saw Lee running toward her. Over the past years they became good friends as Lee began loving her as a sister only. "How have you been? I haven't seen you for...weeks?" he asked as he hugged her.

Sasuke looked curiously at the two. He began to wonder when the moment the two shinobi became so close was. He surely remembered Sakura avoiding him by all means.

"Well I was quite busy with missions and training...how are the others?" Sakura asked.

"They are fine too...we just came back from a mission...a successful one, of course" he said with a grin. Sakura smiled a bit and decided she should go home. She hugged him again and told him:

"Well I have too go now...take care of you and say 'Hi' to Neji and Tenten" she said as she pulled away. She waved her hand at Sasuke and then she disappeared in the same sakura blossoms whirlwind.

Lee turned to look at Sasuke and nodded his head before disappearing, as Sakura.

Sasuke, just shrugged and he jump on one of the rooftops and ran toward his house.

She had hugged Lee twice, while she only waved her hand towards him. Maybe she still had feelings for Sasuke and she tried hard to throw them away, or at least that's what Sasuke wanted to believe. And he also had to admit he was feeling that comfortable with the affection they shared. He didn't know that it was brotherly love.

Instead, he felt his heart beating faster in rage. Some new feelings he couldn't identify emerged and Sasuke had nothing else to do but surrender to the fact that he might love Sakura back.

The situation was really troublesome, as Shikamaru would say...So, what to do now? That's a good question...


	3. The urgent meeting

**THE NEXT GENERATION**

**3. The urgent meeting**

The next day, Sakura sat in her own office trying to organize the papers on her desk, while glancing continuously at the scroll in the middle of it. She still hasn't finished it.

Sighing, she collapsed on her chair, rubbing her temples as a way to find not only a solution for the twisted jutsu, but also an explanation for the new threat rising against Konoha _again._

Concentrated enough on those particular problems she failed to notice when her teammate entered her office staring at her and then at her disorganized desk.

"What are you doing here?" he asked out of the blue, making her jump in her chair, as her right hand was itching to go for that kunai in her leg holster.

"Sasuke-kun...you've startled me." She said trying to relax again. Finally feeling comfortable again she looked up at him, with an eyebrow lifted. He was looking at her scroll, which he now held in his hand, while reading it.

"Is this what you've been working on?" he asked as she took her scroll back.

"Yeah, but it's not yet completed." She replied with a sigh as she looked over it again.

"What does it do?"

"It's some sort of reverse healing. If I cast it on an enemy target then it would hurt it instead of healing. I can also cast it on friendly targets, and then it would be normal healing, but the problem is the amount of chakra it uses. Its workings are too complicated for someone who isn't a medic but I hope I managed to explain a bit of it."

"It uses too much chakra..." he said while she nodded.

"Yeah...I'm trying to make it work for more than 3-4 times." She said as read the scroll again then put it on the desk and looked up at Sasuke.

"So what are you doing here? It's not like you've suddenly taken a liking on me and . . ." she said with a mocking smile, as the annoyed Sasuke interrupted her speech.

"You're the only one missing at the meeting with the Hokage."

Sakura had a bewildered look on her face at hearing this.

"Meeting? What are you talking about?"

Sasuke gave her one last glare before answering.

"The Hokage organized a meeting to discuss our defense and strategy against the new threat and you're the only one missing from it."

"It's not like someone came to announce me of it before you came." She mumbled before grabbing her coat and leaving the office, with Sasuke following her.

Upon reaching the hall she realized she was the receiving end of the stares and scowls of half of Konoha and with a quick apologize and a smile she went to stand where the rest of her team was.

"Where have you been Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked .

"None of your business." She replied, tired of discussing her predicament when she knew it wasn't her fault for not being announced of the meeting, in the first place.

Seeing as she was grumpy that day the blond kept his mouth shut and turned his attention towards Tsunade, who cleared her throat to draw the attention back at her.

"As I was saying: You already knew about the imminence of a new war against us and the camps that were placed around the village in order to surround us. What I want to tell you now is that we found out the identity of our attacker. " this last information was what caused murmurs to be heard around the hall.

Tsunade pulled out a headband from her pocket and the eyes of every single shinobi in the room grew wide with shock.

"We managed to intercept a Sound messenger trying to run from Otogakure to the camps they had placed around us. He was trained well, and capturing him was too difficult to be made so instead we had to kill him. Though the full plans weren't revealed to us, we now know for certain who we have to deal with...it's been those Sound fuckers all the time."

More murmurs of shock were heard across the hall and some ninja could be seen with fists clenched and anger in their eyes, while some had calculating gazes as if trying to form a plan already. One even turned to Sasuke, knowing his past with Sound, but after seeing Sasuke wasn't going to respond to his stares, looked away.

"Those camps that were supposed to be 100 stealthy, had the role of observing our activity, to let them know when the right moment to attack was, or who knows what else. This is a critical situation, as they might attack us at this exact moment, so all I'm asking for you is to make this fast and clever. We have information Sound is still weak after Orochimaru's death, and I'm counting on this..."

"But if Sound was weak what would be the purpose in attacking us. They sure know we've recovered from their last attack..." Shikamaru interrupted the blonde. He was certainly one to find an answer to.

At his retort even the Hokage was put on thinking.

"Then they have an ally or more ..." Sakura answered as everything turned from blear to clear.

The same murmurs were heard again and words like 'ally', 'sound' and even something about 'tardiness' could be heard clearly. Sakura was sure it was about _her_ tardiness.

"But who could possibly ally with them?" a voice was heard from somewhere at her far right.

"Why would they ally with a weak country?"

"Maybe it wasn't Sound who initiated all this, if we're talking about more than one enemy." Shikamaru interrupted again.

"Then we have to be prepared for the worst case scenario." Tsunade yelled as she her palm against the table nearby her, almost shattering it, but infusing courage to her shinobi "and I hope you're wrong Sakura." She mumbled casting one last glance at the pink-haired medic.

-x-

As team 7 left for lunch, they were aware of the tension filling the air.

"I don't understand...why should we sit here waiting for an attack instead of going in advance and take them by surprise?" Naruto thought aloud.

"Maybe you should let the tactics for those who have a brain." Sasuke retorted with a scowl, while Sakura tried to hide her giggle behind her hand.

Naruto chose to only openly glare at the Uchiha, resulting in a battle of deathly stares until Sakura decided it was enough.

"Guys...drop it...we don't need stupid fights at times like this." She said as she turned around and headed towards Ichiraku.

The males decided to follow her too, and they ate in silence.

Surprisingly enough, Sasuke kept thinking about Sakura's attempt to create her own jutsu. Sure she kept surprising him, and he thought it was a good thing that she now had her own jutsu, just like him and Naruto had.

It was a step higher for her, and his appreciation of her rose with it. He could now admit he considered her one of the greatest kunoichi and if there was a war coming closer on them he would try to see if she managed to complete her jutsu until it.

But the thing was nobody knew when that moment would come.

That was the main reason why Sakura got up sooner than ever and went to study more, but not before advising the two males to do the same.

Sasuke would go to the Hokage, saying everything he knew about the Sound nins, and Naruto would just go around the village a few times, as if trying to protect it with his mere presence.


	4. Unleashed power

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**IV. Unleashed power**

Sakura was sitting on the edge of her bed, thinking of the recent events. It was only now that she realized she still had deep feelings for Sasuke. When he came back to Konoha, she felt confused and strange but she thought it was normal to feel like that since she had a crush on him when she was twelve.

And now, she stood there with nothing on her mind, except Sasuke. She thought that crush was gone, for a long time. She was definitely wrong about that. Sakura was, also, well aware of the fact that Sasuke didn't really pay attention to her. He only acted towards her as a friend or a teammate, nothing more. That's why she thought she had to get rid of those useless feelings. She knew perfectly well it was a stupid, unrequited love, and she didn't plan on letting anyone else find out about it. She was not willing to admit her feelings towards Sasuke, only to get humiliated again.

She looked at the clock on her nightstand and noticed it was time for her to go to work and so she went toward the hospital.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto were having a hard training session, when they were interrupted by an ANBU.

"The Hokage wants to see you urgently." He said before disappearing.

"What do you think she wants?" Naruto asked. Sasuke just shrugged before he started running toward the Hokage tower, Naruto following close by.

When they got there, a lot of shinobi were running on the halls.

"This is bad..." Naruto muttered. The two shinobi entered the Hokage office, where Tsunade and Sakura were waiting.

"So...what is this all about?" the blond shinobi asked.

"We have terrible news..." Tsunade said as she put her head in her hands.

"Sakura was right...the Sound has an ally...and not just anyone..." she continued.

"It's the Earth country..." Sakura said, concern written on her face.

Sasuke and Naruto were pretty shocked at hearing this.

"Does that mean the war has started?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know what to say...but from this moment every single shinobi in Konoha will be on guard...now that we know that the Sound and Earth are planning an attack against us, all we have to do is work on our defense as quick as possible, as they might attack us right now..." Tsunade said.

"I will put a few shinobi teams near Konoha...elite shinobi...and of course, you three will be there" the Hokage said as she looked from Naruto to Sasuke and then to Sakura. They nodded in agreement.

"So...the old team seven will be on North-West...I trust that you will be capable of blocking their attack as you are one of the strongest team in Konoha, if not the strongest. I will put Neji's team at North and Kiba's at West. At South and East I will put other teams, but you will also have some back-up teams when the situation gets out of control."

"And if they won't attack for the next days what do we do?" Sasuke asked.

"You will stay on your post...if you need anything we will send it to you...here are the mission's details...make sure you follow the orders." Tsunade said as she handed them a scroll.

"Now go to your posts and God help us..." The three shinobi nodded and they went toward Konoha's walls.

"Where do we exactly have to stay?" Naruto said as he looked around him.

"Tsunade said to stay outside the walls, hidden, so we will have to find a suitable place...if a battle will start its best if we keep it away from Konoha..." Sakura said.

Sasuke looked around him when another team of shinobi greeted them.

"We are the team that will be your back-up" one of them said.

"Good...we will go over there...make sure you stay hidden as well" Sasuke said.

With that being said, team seven went behind some bushes discovered by Sasuke. All they had to do now is waiting for the enemy. But Sakura's mind drifted from time to time to Sasuke. She knew that when he came back he acted as he always did. He didn't show any sign of affection toward her and she let a sigh escape her lips. She was currently sitting between the boys, with Naruto at her right side and Sasuke at her left side. When she glanced at them she saw they were concentrated on the surroundings and she immediately shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. She had other things to think about now, not love issues. She had to be on guard or else it could turn out bad for her and Konoha.

After another hour there were still no signs of any enemy troops.

"Man...When are these guys going to attack?" Naruto whispered.

"Naruto, stop being so impatient..." Sakura said as she threatened him with her fist "You better concentrate on your surroundings than thinking about your time..."

But soon, three hours passed and nobody came. Team 7 was still there waiting for any sign of movement.

"How many do you think they will be?" Sakura asked.

"It doesn't matter...we are strong enough to beat a whole army." Naruto answered with a grin on his face. After this they went silent again. But as time continued to pass, they all felt the impatience reaching them. And they couldn't help but feel as if the enemy was mocking at them.

But their thoughts were suddenly broken as they sensed a large number of shinobi getting closer.

"At last..." Sasuke whispered "you know what to do now..."

The other two nodded their heads in agreement. They waited a few more seconds for the shinobi to come closer. When they were close enough Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura jumped on the trees and started throwing kunais at the enemy shinobi.

They were hit precisely and most of them didn't even have time to realize what happened. In less than a minute 50 shinobi were down already.

The others stopped as they checked their surroundings.

"They knew we were going to attack them." One of them said.

"They are indeed, a very good shinobi village." Other said. He appeared to be the leader of the attack. "Find those shinobi quick and get rid of them."

He was pretty angry now that he found out Konoha knew about their attack and they even got prepared to face them. It looked like they seriously underestimated the Hidden Village of the Leaves. '_But if they think we will go down that easy, they are so damn wrong...we have a lot more shinobi than they have and we will crush them as if they were a cockroach...' _he thought as a devilish grin appeared on his face.

More and more shinobi appeared and they quickly spread out to surround Konoha.

"The bastards are going to surround Konoha." Sakura said to her teammates.

"Then we have no other choice..." Sasuke said.

"Ok...let's finish them..." Naruto said as he jumped down from the trees, Sakura and Sasuke doing the same.

As they hit the ground, every enemy shinobi stopped and eyed the three of them. One of them started laughing at seeing only three shinobi.

"Haa...Is that all Konoha has...two shinobi and a kunoichi?"

"You don't think we could stop you all?" Sasuke said as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Ignorant people...the number means nothing comparable with the power..." Sakura said. She let a smirk appear on her face, too. Over the past years she enjoyed playing with the enemy and that's what she was doing right now.

"Well...we'll see just how much the power dominates the number..." one man said as he launched toward Sakura. She easily dodged the attack and, while doing so, she grabbed the man's arm and sent him flying in a tree, crushing it in the process.

"You still have time to retreat..." Naruto said with a frown on his face.

But they just stood there until three of them launched their attacks to Team 7.

"We'll see what you are capable of." The leader of the attack said with a smirk.

Naruto made a few shadow clones and in less than 5 minutes the ninja was out of the game.

Sasuke sliced the ninja with his katana, after dodging his attacks.

Sakura used a chakra infused fist to paralyze the ninja before throwing a kunai at him, ending his life.

A frown appeared on the leader's face as he looked at the three ninja, who apparently weren't even tired.

"Who exactly are you?" he asked through gritted teeth. A grin appeared on Naruto's face as he answered his question.

"We...are the next generation...the next Legendary Sannin..." The leader looked somehow confused. He'd heard of Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru being the Legendary Sannin, but to hear, now, that there was another generation of sannins, really was unexpected.

"Enough with this chatting...to battle..." the leader commanded as the large number of shinobi launched at the three Konoha jounin.

The 'next legendary sannin' as Naruto called them, dodged attack after attack, while, also, delivering their own attacks at enemy targets. Naruto used his shadow clones again, as that was one of his favorite jutsu, and he sent kunais with explosives at his targets. Sasuke was using taijutsu for the beginning but as time passed both jounin used more sophisticated jutsus.

Same story goes with Sakura. On the first ninjas it was enough to use her fists, but the situation, soon, got out of control as more and more ninja appeared. She formed three Shadow Clones, in order to better fight the upcoming shinobi and now, she even thought of the possibility to test her newest jutsu.

She quickly formed the necessary hand seals and gathered chakra to her hands as they started glowing bright green. She quickly looked around her before channeling all that special chakra toward two shinobi who stood close enough to each other to be hit by her jutsu. Apparently they haven't paid enough attention and they turned out to be an easy catch. _'What a way to test it...'_ she thought with tint of sarcasm.

Meanwhile, the back up team just watched the three Konoha shinobi fight the large number of enemy, more than amazed.

"They are able to hold their ground fighting so many shinobi...I mean...how many are there? Over fifty?" one of them asked, clearly amazed.

"They are incredible..." another one said.

"Do you think we should go up there?" the third man asked.

"I don't think it's needed...the Hokage told us to help them only if the situation gets worse; for now we have to make sure that no one escapes toward Konoha." The others nodded.

Neji's team was caught in a fight too as several Sound Nins appeared.

"It looks like they try to find our blind spot..." Neji said. He received nods from his comrades.

"Do you think Naruto's team is doing fine?" Lee asked.

"Yes...you'd better concentrate on this battle here." Neji pointed out. They went back to the battle, determined to not let the foreign ninja capture Konoha. It was their duty to keep the battle away from the village and so they did.

Sasuke was getting impatient by the increasing number of enemy shinobi. He knew it was time to call for reinforcements as he glanced at his two other teammates. He saw Naruto was as annoyed as him. The blond shinobi was fighting several shinobi with the help of his shadow clones and he started to use his rasengan on a more skilled ninja. Sasuke knew the situation was getting tougher. The enemy not only had a large number of shinobi but they also seemed to be very skilled.

He looked at his left and caught a glimpse of Sakura dodging some attacks as she was, now, using her katana. Just as he was about to turn his look from her he noticed a kunai cut through her left arm, blood starting pouring down her arm, on the ground. His heart skipped a beat at seeing this and the rush to kill whoever hurt her reached him. But this was another sign that the situation was becoming overwhelming for just the three of them. He knew perfectly well that she was very good dodging an attack, even a multiple one. The fact that she couldn't dodge that kunai showed the she was starting to feel fatigued. But who could blame her.

Sasuke too was feeling more tired. He saw she began healing her arm so he turned his gaze back to the enemy. He tried to go toward Naruto but was blocked by a shuriken flying his way and he barely had time to dodge it as the weapon managed to scratch his right cheek. He had to fight other ninjas before being able to reach Naruto, both men standing with their backs at each other.

As Sakura glanced around her she saw her teammates, back to back, and she understood they had to have a little meeting. After making her way through the enemy shinobi she was able to reach her comrades, as they let her sit with her back at theirs. Standing as they stood, they had their backs secured.

"We should call the back up team." Sasuke said. They grabbed a scroll and after making the needed hand seals, three flares rose to the sky. It was the signal the back up team needed to get down there and help team 7.

They quickly got there. The back up team was formed of six shinobi and among them was none other than...Hatake Kakashi.

"Yo...you guys really kicked some shinobi over here." He said. Team 7 smiled at their ex-sensei.

"Ooo...more Konoha ninjas...I was wondering when you were going to come...I thought the Hokage will let only three shinobi fight over one hundred...pretty unfair, isn't it?" the leader once again spoke.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke...are you ready?" Kakashi asked.

The mentioned shinobi nodded their heads in approval. All nine Konoha shinobi got into a fighting stance as they got surrounded from all sides by enemy.

"Looks like we will have to stay here for a while, isn't it?" The Copy-Ninja said, removing his hitai-ate from his Sharingan eye. "But that's why we will get rid of these rats." Naruto said as he glared at the Iwagakure shinobi.

They all stood in silence for a few seconds before Konoha's ninja disappeared.

"What the hell?" a foreign shinobi wondered. Just as he finished his throat was sliced and he fell to the ground. The others surveyed the vicinity but they found nothing. One of them tried to move but he was killed by a well aimed kunai. This was a clear game. Whoever moved, was about to get killed.

"Huh...as if your tricks will stop us..." the leader yelled. A kunai was sent flying toward him but he blocked it with his katana which he unsheathed in the blink of an eye. He glared at the weapon before closing his eyes in concentration. Every foreign shinobi was silent, waiting for their leader's orders. After a couple of seconds passed another shinobi tried to move but was killed in an instant. That moment the leader opened his eyes and he glared at a bush. Then, in the blink of an eye he threw his katana with a remarkable speed. Everybody stared at the bush the katana hit.

"Go..." the leader yelled and in that moment ten shinobi ran toward it, but they found nothing but a few blood stains and their leader's katana. The leader reached the bush too and smirked when he saw the blood drops. "It looks like I only managed to scratch that shinobi...but it's more than enough..." he said with a smirk on his face.

At that very moment dozens of shuriken were sent flying toward them and they jumped in order to dodge the attack.

"And they keep trying to trick us..." he added, the smirk still visible. He formed a few unknown hand seals and the ground began to crack as boulders rose from the cracks, in the air. "You kind of bored me with your games so let's just get into action, shall we?" he said as he looked at several bushes and trees.

"Are you ok?" Naruto asked Sakura. She had a small gash on the left side of her abdomen and as soon as she reached Naruto and Sasuke she healed it. She could see the concern on his face and smiled while caressing his cheek.

"I'm ok, Naruto...don't worry...I'm the medic after all..." she said before turning back to the enemy. He grinned back and looked back at the where Sakura was staring.

From the corner of the eye Sakura glanced at Sasuke but he didn't pay her any attention. _'As always...'_ she thought sadly. They watched as the leader made the hand seals and as the boulders rose from the earth.

"Why do I get the feeling that he is looking at us and where Kakashi is?" Sakura asked. But she didn't get to hear any answer as some of the boulders came rushing towards them.

"Shit..." Naruto cursed. They immediately jumped from where they were and the spot where they last stood was destroyed the second they were out of there. The other boulders flew toward Kakashi and his team but they ran away in time too.

"There's nowhere you can hide." The leader laughed after saying this. Sasuke's eyes widened in realization.

"They come from the Earth Country so that means they have mainly earth based jutsus, just like us have several fire jutsus, as we come from the Fire Country." He said. Sakura looked at him confused at first but then she realized what he was trying to say.

"He can see where we are because the earth tells him." Sakura said as she looked at her feet. She saw immediately as some traces of earth were moving the place her feet were, as well as where her comrades' feet were.

"That means there is no need for us to hide?" Naruto asked.

"Exactly...this earth is something like Shino's bugs or Gaara's sand...it tells him our location." Sakura explained.

"Damn...these guys are good..." Naruto cursed again. He looked at the leader again and saw another pair of boulders heading their way. "Sasuke, Sakura...get down now..." Naruto yelled. They did as they were told and so they managed to get away from it.

"Come out...you can't hide from me..." the leader said while a devilish grin appeared on his face.

Realizing he was right Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke jumped in front of him. Kakashi saw this and he and his team went there too.

"Earth Nins, right?" Sasuke asked as he eyed the leader.

"That specializes in earth jutsu?" Naruto continued.

"And so...you managed to see you location...the earth told you..." Sakura completed the sentence.

"Ohh...you are pretty smart aren't you?" He asked as he looked from Sasuke to Sakura. "You are an interesting trio, you know..." he continued "I'm impressed that you killed so many of my shinobi and you only got some minor scratches...this definitely tells something."

As he finished talking he motioned his shinobi to attack Konoha's. Kakashi and his team were forced to defend themselves as their attacks drew them further away from his three ex-students.

"He's trying to separate us..." Sakura whispered loud enough for Sasuke and Naruto to hear. They got into fighting stance ready for the next attack.

As they predicted the leader formed hand seals for another earth based jutsu. It proved to be a jutsu that created a huge crack on the ground beneath them. Team 7 barely had time to jump but from the darkness of the crack raised some liana that grabbed their legs, pulling them down.

As she was falling down at a high speed, Sakura grabbed the liana and, using her great strength she broke it, setting her free. Sasuke formed hand seals for his grand fire ball, that burned the piece of wood, and Naruto used his simple rasengan to cut through it.

As they landed back on safe earth, the trio didn't even have time to catch their breath as some other shinobi launched their attacks at them. They had a clear purpose, and that was to separate Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke.

Once they were quite far away from each other, the battle started once again.

Sasuke was having a hard time dodging the attacks of ten ninjas. He was already tired and he knew he will only have enough chakra to fight for an hour, at the most. As fatigue entered his system he couldn't dodge an attack and so he was pierced by 5 shuriken. He managed to sustain the pain and launched his own attacks at the other ninja.

Naruto also had a few cuts on his body and, getting angrier by the minute, he started using his advanced rasengan when there was no other way.

Sakura was healing a gash from her leg, leaving the smaller cuts to heal on their own, as she knew her chakra supplies were running low. She did a few hand seals for her newest jutsu and this time she managed to kill 4 shinobi at once. There were only four others left. Although she used quite a large quantity of chakra, at least she was pleased that the jutsu has improved. She missed one ninja but she didn't feel that bad.

She was about to make another move when she felt something hitting her on the right side. She was sent flying on a nearby tree with a loud noise. She tried to get up as fast as she could but she was a bit slower than she expected as she felt two ribs were broken. The second she was on her feet again, she got hit again by the same boulder, this time the boulder landing on her. She coughed up some blood and she gathered chakra on her hands to remove the boulder from her.

All the while, the leader from Iwagakure was watching her. _'Immense strength, high-ranked healing abilities, intelligence, she can dodge attacks easily, perfect chakra control...impressive...just like Tsunade...' _he thought.

Sakura managed to get up and took a scroll from her bag. It was a scroll that regenerated an average amount of chakra for the user, but it was only available for an hour. She healed her broken ribs, now that she a little more chakra and she got into her fighting stance.

As she looked up she saw the leader standing before her with the other four on his sides.

"So...the three of you were the sannins' apprentices..." he spoke. Sakura chose to remain silent. "Then I would like to see how much legendary you three are." He continued as he did a pair of hand seals. Sakura knew she was in trouble so she decided a little genjutsu won't do any bad.

The leader was about to make his attack when Sakura suddenly disappeared. He frantically looked around but the environment began to change into a harsh one. A blatant tempest made its way on the sky above him, while a powerful wind began fluttering the trees' leaves. He tried to move but appeared to be only in slow motion. He realized that this was just a genjutsu and so he put his hands in a hand seal to release it. But it didn't.

"What the fuck...?" he asked nobody in particular as panic reached him. He tried again to dispel the genjutsu, but to no avail. "This can't be..." he yelled again as he was getting more and more frustrated by the second.

At the same time, Sasuke was still fighting foreign shinobi when he came across with Naruto.

"How long do you think this will still last?" Naruto asked his teammate and friend.

"I don't know, but we will have to put an end to this, soon...my chakra level is running low..." Sasuke answered.

"Yeah...mine too...I will soon be forced to rely on the Kyubi's chakra..." Naruto said, as a frown was involuntarily put on his face. Over the years he managed to better control the nine-tailed demon fox but still, every time he used his chakra, the blond didn't feel right for doing so, as he remembered the people he hurt under the Kyubi's influence.

"Where is Sakura?" the blond asked.

"You should concentrate on your own battle...she's over there..." Sasuke said as he pointed to an area of the forest that was a bit too quiet. "Genjutsu..." he whispered. Although it wasn't visible for him he knew she was using high-ranked genjutsu on her enemies. It the past years he got to know her a little better. He knew what she was capable of, but as he looked at that area he couldn't help but have a strange feeling in his chest. He glanced all over the forest and something just didn't seem to be right.


	5. Returned feelings

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**V. Returned feelings**

The leader of the attack was still desperately trying to dispel the jutsu. When he looked around him for the other four shinobi, he noticed they were no longer there. Just as he turned back his head, four deformed corpses fell on the ground in front of him. He was shocked when he saw them. He couldn't even recognize those shinobi. _'This is just a genjutsu...just a genjutsu...just a genjutsu...'_ he kept saying that in his mind, but everything seemed so real that a shiver went down his spine.

"Stop playing around and come fight me fairly." He yelled harshly. _'She tries to intimidate me...I won't let her...no...'_

"There is no need for doing that..." he heard her saying from behind him. He quickly turned around with his katana ready, but there was nobody. He felt a presence on his right side and when he turned his gaze there he was met again with nothing. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on his back as he was thrown a few feet away. He got up as fast as he could but he felt claws on his cheeks.

"Move and I will make sure you will have permanent tattoos on your face." She said from behind him, with sarcasm clear in her voice.

Naruto and Sasuke were still fighting together and Sasuke didn't have that bad feeling anymore. But still, he wondered why he felt like that, just moments ago. He thought it had something to do with Sakura but he knew he shouldn't worry that much for her. Especially since she was using that genjutsu he himself fell once.

_Team 7 was on their usual training grounds for yet another training session. By that time he had only come back to Konoha for a few months so he didn't knew much of his old teammates' techniques. He had the first spar with Sakura as Naruto was the first one, the last time they trained. _

_They got into their fighting stances and Sasuke was first to begin, throwing a few shuriken at her. She dodged those too, throwing the same type of weapon back at him. They threw weapons at each other for a few moments, always missing, so they went to taijutsu. He almost got kicked in the face by her leg if it weren't for his Sharingan. After they considered taijutsu was not useful they went to ninjutsu. He formed his giant fire ball, which Sakura barely dodged. _

_He was about to make another move when Sakura suddenly disappeared. Sasuke was surprised at seeing this. Even with the Sharingan activated he didn't see her forming any hand seals and he had no idea where she went to. As he stood there a sharp pain entered his head and he realized it must be a genjutsu since she was nowhere to be found. He tried to dispel it but it didn't work. The pain was becoming almost unbearable and he used his Sharingan to escape her genjutsu. _

He remembered that day very well. It was the first time she managed to beat him and all day long he couldn't stop thinking about her.

Sakura has changed a lot during the years he has been away. And now she was one of the strongest kunoichi in the world. Her skills in genjutsu rivaled the ones of Kurenai or even the Sharingan. Her medical skills already surpassed Tsunade's. Her taijutsu was far better now, not to mention the ninjutsu. He often wondered if the Sakura standing next to him was the Sakura he knew.

That's why he didn't think he would have to worry about her at that moment. The leader was well trapped in her genjutsu and if he didn't get out of there any time soon, he will either be dead or he will no longer be able to use his mind properly. Sakura's genjutsu was a bit cruel but in harsh times like this, it was welcomed.

He concentrated back on his battle.

The leader tried once again to dispel Sakura's genjutsu but he couldn't. Sakura dig her nails deeper into the man's cheeks, blood drops beginning to fall down them. He grabbed her hands and pulled her over his shoulder but she disappeared again. The wind began blowing harder and harder and he tried once again to dispel the genjutsu. _'Maybe if I use more chakra then it will work.'_ He did as he thought but it didn't work. _'More chakra...'_ He tried again and this time was brought back to reality. His legs were shaking as his whole body did and he found himself panting from exhaustion. He put his hands on his face but the blood and gashes were still there.

Dispelling her genjutsu took him a lot more chakra than he thought. Apparently that was the main purpose of it. He concentrated as he closed his eyes. But just as he closed his eyes he felt a presence at his right. She was so fast he didn't get to dodge the attack so he was sent flying into a nearby tree.

"Get this into your filthy head...you will never get Konoha..." Sakura said as she glared at him. He smirked as he slowly lifted himself from the ground. He had some broken bones from the hard landing and her chakra infused fist, but he managed to stand the pain.

"Maybe I won't be able to get Konoha...but I will make sure the village loses at least one of its great shinobi..." he said as his smirk grew wider. Sakura's glare intensified. _'He's planning something...'_ she thought.

Naruto and Sasuke were still fighting together.

"Sasuke...we need to call another back-up team...I no longer have chakra..." Naruto said as he breathed heavily.

"I know." The raven haired man said. He grabbed another small scroll and gave the signal.

At Konoha's walls, several teams of shinobi were waiting. They saw the signal Sasuke gave and one team was ready to head there, when something just didn't feel right. They all turned their gazes on the ground beneath their feet. They sensed a large mass of chakra in the ground...and it was coming closer and closer. Just when they were about to jump dozens of shinobi emerged from the ground and grabbed their feet. The guards of the walls saw this and widened their eyes.

"Earth shinobi...reached our walls by going underground?" one of them asked.

"They were trying to enter the village unseen, but luckily for us we sensed them just in time..." another one said.

The battle was no longer kept away from Konoha. Earth Country's tactics were good enough to break through the barrier, Konoha put.

More shinobi emerged from the ground and the guards from the walls gave the emergency signals.

"Looks like we won't be able to help those away from the village..." one man from a back-up team said.

"Let's just hope they are going to make it...after all they are all elite..." other one said receiving nods from everybody.

"Now...let's get rid of this pest..." a shinobi said as he launched his attack at the Iwagakure shinobi.

Sakura was still trying to guess the leader's plans. He unsheathed his katana and brought it in front of his face.

"You see dear, my katana is no ordinary katana...If I want to, I can use it, together with the earth, to cast special curses..." He said as he grinned devilishly at her.

"I am not interested in the history of your katana..." Sakura said as she launched at him. At first her speed was remarkable but as she neared him the speed dropped drastically until she wasn't able to move anymore.

"What...?" she asked as she looked around her. He only laughed at her.

"You do remember when you and you team were playing with us, do you? By throwing perfectly aimed kunais at whoever moved or spoke...that was when I scratched you, am I right?"

Her eyes widened in shock as she remembered the scene.

_Sakura was hiding behind a bush. She and her teammates were circling the enemy shinobi as good as they could and throwing kunais at whoever talked or moved. The purpose of this game was to create panic across them. She saw the leader closed his eyes and she knew he must be planning something. Just then another shinobi moved and she threw a precise kunai at his throat. As the corpse hit the ground the leader opened his eyes and was, apparently, glaring at the bush she was behind. A shiver went down her spine as he looked straight at her. _

_Then, in the blink of an eye, he threw his katana at her. She tried her best to dodge it, but the sword was simply too fast, so it hit her in the left part of her abdomen. A few drops of blood hit the ground and she heard him yelling a 'Go' to his shinobi. At that moment she ran as fast as she could until she reached Naruto and Sasuke. She then healed her wound as Naruto watched her, worry written in his eyes. 'Are you ok?' he asked. 'I'm ok, Naruto...don't worry...I'm the medic after all...' Sakura assured him._

_The leader saw that nobody was behind that bush, but the drops of blood showed another thing. _

_'It looks like I only managed to scratch that shinobi...but it's more than enough...' he said with a smirk on his face._

"Do you remember, now?" he asked "Those drops of blood were 'more than enough' for my curse jutsu..."

"Curse justu?" she asked disbelieving.

"Yes you heard me...the moment I had your blood on my katana and the earth, it was game over for you...but I decided I should see what are your abilities and let me tell you one thing...you're impressive...a true legendary ninja...and I feel so good that I will be the one to end your life..." he said as he did a few more hand seals.

Sakura felt her left side, where his katana hit her, pulsating and with a burning sensation that was getting almost unbearable. She slowly moved her trembling arms. Her wound, which was healed by her, was now opening again and bleeding. But this time it seemed to be deeper and blood was pouring out of it, down her hip. She managed to put her hands on the wound but she couldn't gather her chakra well, so instead of healing the gash, it only caused more damage. She fought the urge to scream in pain as the pain increased.

"Ha-ha...keep trying to heal it...you will only cause yourself more pain..." the leader said.

"H-How?" she asked, as she began breathing heavily. He grinned.

"I used your blood to mess up with your system...I can do whatever I want with your body." He said.

Sakura tried her best to get control over her chakra, but to no avail. She realized it was a very tough jutsu. She couldn't run away and she could barely move her arms. The other wounds she received during the battle, and which she healed them were, now, opening too. Sakura didn't understand how that was even possible since she healed them completely. Her two, previously broken ribs were, now, again in their precarious condition. When they broke again she let a small scream escape her mouth.

"You probably wonder how I was able to get you back in the unhealed condition, aren't you."

Sakura didn't say anything.

"My jutsu is extremely powerful...it has the ability to see through your body...I knew you had some wounds you must have healed...but that didn't stop me...Not even the most powerful healing jutsu could have hidden your wounds from my jutsu...not even yours."

Sakura knew she couldn't heal herself as long as she was under the jutsu, and her exhaustion from the battle was saying something. She tried her best to gather her energy and move her body. With a battle cry she managed to form the hand seals necessary for her 'Reverse Healing' and then she channeled all the chakra toward the leader. Hid eyes widened in shock as the chakra hit him in a second, in his right arm, nearly destroying it. The pain spread through him and he screamed unable to hold back. All the bones in his arm were shattered and gashes were everywhere, covered in a crimson liquid. He instinctively put his left hand on his tattered one, and a screech left his mouth again.

Sakura was just watching him, breathing heavily. After managing to do this jutsu her, whole body ached. Her, already, low supplies of chakra were dangerously low now, but she had no choice. If she was going to die there, the least she could do was to hold a decent battle, or to seriously injure the leader. Now that she saw his destroyed arm and his pained expression through her half closed eyes, her lips couldn't cover a smirk.

The leader was still in a tremendous pain, but he managed to calm himself down. It was probably the greatest pain he had ever felt, so he closed his eyes to meditate for a minute.

Sakura didn't turn her eyes from him, the minute he just meditated looking similarly to an eternity, since the pain inside her body was increasing.

After the minute passed, he opened his eyes again. His face still held the pained expression but now, it had more than that. He looked up at her and a glare was shot towards her. He still was in a great pain but at least he calmed enough to not scream from it. His arm was soaked with blood and blood was dripping on the ground.

"You...what did you do?" he asked, his voice full of hatred. He was even more surprised that she managed to perform such a high-leveled jutsu under his curse.

Sakura wanted to say something but the words simply didn't get out of her mouth. The curse jutsu was exhausting her.

He saw her pained expression too, and he smirked, realizing his curse was making its effect on her.

"You are first person to have ever managed to fight me back under the curse jutsu...but don't think that I will spare your life for that..." he said the last part, again, with hatred. He glanced at his arm and then back at her, "You will pay for what you did..." he said as he formed several hand seals with his left hand.

One boulder appeared out of nowhere and Sakura couldn't even dodge it as it hit her from the back, sending her flying few meters away. She landed hard, her face on the ground. She was lucky that he couldn't use his right arm, because if he could, the jutsu would have been more powerful. As she stood there, barely breathing, her mind could no longer focus on the battle around her. She had lost focus the moment the boulder hit her. When she landed on the ground she couldn't even scream, not even if she wanted to. Dust rose all around her and she found it hard to breathe too. She no longer felt the pain, as if her whole body was petrified.

Sasuke and Naruto were both breathing heavily and had numerous cuts on their bodies.

"Where the hell are the reinforcements?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked around him but he didn't sense anyone coming.

"I don't know...nobody is coming close to the area..."

"What? Do you mean...? Naruto asked as he looked around him. There were bodies everywhere and there were only a few shinobi alive, waiting for the next attack. Sasuke felt the exhaustion and crashed on the ground, behind a bush, to catch his breath. Naruto did the same and sat next to him, both breathing heavily.

"We have to find Sakura..." Sasuke said. He suddenly wondered how the things were going on with her battle and Kakashi's. But he also realized something. "Naruto...where did that leader go?" the blond looked at him with a confused expression but the realization hit him too.

"Do you think there is a chance that he was fighting Sakura?" he asked even more worried. Sasuke nodded as he got up and studied the surroundings. That was when they heard a large noise.

"Over there..." Naruto said as he pointed on the edge of the forest.

The leader felt his chakra drop a bit after performing the jutsu, but he looked satisfied when he looked at the, apparently, lifeless body of Sakura he felt a great satisfaction inside of him. He wanted her to pay for destroying his arm like that. But as he remembered about his arm the pain passed through him again. He clenched his teeth to avoid screaming because of the excruciating pain. His breath became heavier and he cursed the moment he let himself getting hit like that. He had to admit that she was very skilled as a shinobi and her strength was leaving him speechless. The kunoichi he fought before were never this good. He had to admit that she was worthy of the title of 'legendary'. If she wasn't so tired from fighting so many shinobi she could have easily beaten him. So he considered himself lucky that he had so many shinobi available to use as pawns until he was able to make his own moves.

Sasuke and Naruto were both dumbfounded when they arrived at the place Sakura fought. The trees were destroyed, a large boulder ripped from the ground, blood pools and a leader with his arm mostly hanging down.

"What the hell happened to him?" Naruto asked. His eyes traveled all over the place until he saw something that caught his eyes...a flash of pink. He looked over there and saw a lifeless body, covered with dust, the only visible color being the pale pink hair and the crimson liquid sliding from the body, on the ground, staining it. Naruto looked over the body and hardly recognized it as being his teammate.

"Sa-Sakura-chan..." he barely whispered, but Sasuke heard him and he looked where Naruto was looking. He froze instantly. There she was, lying on her stomach, covered with dust and the blood shining on her skin. He could no longer move. He just stared at her body with his eyes a little widened.

Naruto immediately ran towards Sakura. When he reached her, he knelt down next to her and was even afraid to touch her, judging by the blood soaking her. Her face was not visible so he gathered his courage and grabbed her shoulders to turn her around, so that she could sit on her back. When he did so, instead of putting her back on the ground, he put her shoulders on his knees while taking her hair away from her face.

"Sakura...wake up..." he whispered. But she didn't. Her chest wasn't even moving. He checked her pulse and, at first, he couldn't sense anything. Tears of frustration were forming in his eyes and he checked her pulse again, even if he knew it was futile. His heart skipped a beat when he felt something like a faint pulse on her right wrist. "Stay with us Sakura...please..." he whispered back as he let tears slide down his cheeks.

Sasuke still hasn't moved from his place and was watching the scene before his eyes. Since he saw her body there, a heavy weight seemed to have been put on his chest, almost making him out of breath. He looked at Sakura's unmoving body, then at the crying Naruto and he reached a conclusion. She must have died there, alone, while he had Naruto by his side. She was fighting all by herself with a powerful nin, who wasn't tired at all, while she was, after fighting a whole army. He began feeling guilty for leaving her alone again, for being so selfish again. He should have gone in search of her. If he would have been by her side she wouldn't have died. She wouldn't have left him...she wouldn't have left team 7...she wouldn't have left the sannins. But there was nothing he could do now. He lowered his head so that his face was no longer visible and clenched his fists on his sides. The immense frustration for ignoring her all these years rushed through him. Why did he let the pride and selfishness get the best of him, he didn't know.

But, out of the blue, a forgotten feeling entered him. The hatred...the hatred he thought he left behind when he killed his brother and avenged his clan, now came back...a hatred for the one who did this to Sakura...for the one who killed her and took her away. He looked up again and his gaze was fixed on the pained leader. His eyes were locked on the leader's crushed arm and his pained expression, and a smirk appeared on Sasuke's face, though the glare was still visible. He knew who did that severe injury. He knew it was Sakura who did it and he felt proud that she did so capable. He once, considered her jutsu too slow but it seemed that she managed to improve it and cast it on the leader. However, he also knew the chakra consumption of the jutsu and he it was the last thing she must have done. The smirk disappeared from his face.

"What did you do?" he asked him. The leader looked at Sasuke and a forced grin was put on his face.

"Just a 'little' curse jutsu..."

"Curse jutsu?"

"Do I really have to explain this again?" he asked as he rolled his eyes. But he never expected Sasuke to pin him to a tree with a hand on his throat threatening to end his life as fast as he came.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked as he glared at the leader, who still grinned.

"I am Katsuro of Iwagakure...the strongest shinobi in the village...after the Tsuchikage, of course...maybe I am as strong as him, or maybe stronger..."

"Stop mocking around..." Sasuke said as he put his katana on Katsuro's throat.

"I do have to admit that if she wouldn't have been that tired she could have managed to defeat me...but I always have some saving tricks..."

"You will pay for what you did..." Sasuke said as he dig his katana deeper in the man's throat as some blood began sliding down his neck "But I think I will leave you just like that" he continued as he looked at Katsuro's bleeding arm "You will die from blood loss anyway..."

And with that being said he released the leader, who collapsed to his knees breathing heavily.

"You really thought I will kill you so fast, didn't you? You actually thought that you will get away just like that after all you did throughout your miserable life? You deserve a much slower and painful death and I am gladly to offer it to you...in fact there isn't really much I could too...Sakura already took care of you by destroying your right arm...she made sure that you will fall down with her..." Sasuke said with a blank expression.

"Sasuke..." Naruto yelled, causing the said man to turn around "We have to head back to Konoha immediately...we have to take Sakura to Tsunade, now..."

"Naruto, there isn't much she ca..."

"What are you talking about...we have to take her there while she's still alive..."

Sasuke froze once again. Naruto's words kept playing in his mind over and over again. _'While she's still alive...while she's still alive...'_ He thought she had died, when in fact she was struggling for life. Sakura's body was put on the ground and Naruto got up to his feet.

Katsuro watched the whole scene agape. She was still alive while he was going to die from the blood loss caused by her. He wasn't willing to let things end like this for him. He slowly lifted his trembling left arm. Sasuke saw this too.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked harshly.

"Paying her back for my tremendous injury..." the Earth shinobi answered as he did some hand seals with his hand, just as earth slowly began enveloping Sakura. She began trembling and her eyes were tightly closed. Naruto knelt down once again to wipe the dirt from her and put her into his arms, but she didn't stop shaking.

"Shh...Sakura we are here...calm down..." he whispered but it was all in vain. It was hurting him to see her like this. He only loved her as a sister or a good friend. She and Sasuke were his best friends and to have her more dead than alive was really hurting him.

Sasuke was looking at Sakura with wide eyes. Katsuro was killing her right in front of his eyes. And it was a slow and painful death. But he wasn't going to let this happen, so he launched at Katsuro and stabbed him with his katana.

"I don't know what you're doing but if you want a slower death you could have just told me..." he said as he activated his Sharingan again. Katsuro, as weakened as he was, made the mistake to look into the Uchiha's eyes and unconsciousness fell on him. Sasuke released him and turned to look at Sakura again. She was no longer shaking; instead she was back to the lifeless form.

"Sasuke...hold her...I'm going to look for Kakashi..." Naruto said as he put Sakura in Sasuke's hands. The moment he touched her skin the weight on his chest and heart seemed to have increased. He looked at her face that was leaning on his chest and he wondered again why he was so selfish and cruel to her all these years. Sasuke knew perfectly well he loved her, and it pained him too, ignoring her like he did. He felt the urge to feel her and he kissed her on her forehead. Her blood was soaking him too but he didn't care at all. He had her on his arms and nothing seemed better than this. If only he could fight for her life things will be different. And he couldn't wait for Naruto and Kakashi anymore, while her life was as slippery as an eel. He gathered all his strength and ran as fast as his legs allowed it, towards Konoha, with only one thing in his mind...saving her...

"Sakura...stay with me..." he whispered as he jumped from tree to tree.

_To be continued.._


	6. Pain and trust

**THE NEXT GENERATION**

**VI. Pain and trust**

Sasuke was running with Sakura in his arms. His body began to ache from fatigue but he didn't care at all for that. He had his most important mission...to save her life. He glanced at her from time to time and noticed she was still unconscious. A few locks of her hair were stuck on her face by sweat and drops of blood. Her breath was barely noticeable and she looked more dead than alive. This concerned Sasuke a bit, and he tried to run faster.

When he reached Konoha, he was met by silence. Some parts of the wall were destroyed and corpses were all over the place. He was relieved when he saw Leaf shinobi trying to clear up the place. One of them looked up and saw Sasuke with Sakura in his arms.

"Oh my God...come on, we'll help you..." he said as three shinobi came towards him. Sasuke was barely standing and he handed Sakura to a shinobi, while another one took a hold of Sasuke's arm and carried him to the hospital.

While being carried towards the hospital, Sasuke kept glancing at Sakura. The Nin that held her was making sure not to hurt her and Sasuke was grateful that he came across them, as this way, they would reach the hospital sooner.

But as they passed by the buildings in Konoha, Sasuke could no longer stay awake as consciousness slipped away from him, because of exhaustion.

The next time he woke up, he was in a hospital bed. The room was nothing special, and that's how he knew he was in a hospital, not mentioning the characteristic smell. He tried to stand up but his body still ached a bit and so he leaned back on his elbows. Just then the door opened revealing a bandaged Naruto, followed shortly by Kakashi who had a few bandages too.

"So you're awake..." Naruto said as he grabbed a chair with his undamaged arm. He put the chair next to Sasuke's bed and stood back on it with a sigh. Kakashi came close too but he just leaned against the wall.

"How long was I unconscious?" Sasuke asked.

"Two days...but you did great...as a true shinobi would..." Kakashi answered as he directed his gaze outside the window. Sasuke followed his ex-sensei's gaze and he took notice of the sunny day. He looked back around the room and he realized something was missing. He immediately knew what.

"What happened to Sakura?" he asked, apparently emotionless, although in the inside his heart began beating faster with emotion. His comrades looked at him and both stood quiet for a few seconds before Kakashi decided to speak first.

"She is currently recovering..."

Everyone went quiet once again. Sasuke was not the one to show emotion so he decided not to ask anymore. He will find out what was her condition later, but now, at least he knew she was alive.

"Did Konoha manage to counter their attack?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Of course we did...you wouldn't be here if we didn't." Naruto said as a huge grin appeared on his face. Sasuke sent him a small glare but Naruto just continued to grin. Sometimes he was still acting like a kid just to warm up the atmosphere.

"The three of you eliminated more than half of Iwagakure's shinobi...the others didn't stand a chance against all the reinforcements and the other teams placed around Konoha...Sound didn't have that many shinobi, although they were tough too...but the other teams countered the attack too...I must say that the resemblance between the Legendary Sannin and you three, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, is more and more striking..." Kakashi explained as a smile was visible behind his mask.

Naruto's grin became even wider, if that was even possible, while Sasuke just smirked. Again, he knew they were very strong and he felt proud that things turned out like this. Maybe the fact that the team 7 was placed in the main direction of the attack was supposed to be a test to see how powerful they really are...the conclusion? Incredibly powerful, as together with this war they became a legend.

"I see that you're awake." Tsunade said as she entered the room. Sasuke nodded with a slight smirk on his face. "You were very fatigued and had several injuries too...I'm sorry that I may have put you and your team in unnecessary danger." She continued as she diverted her gaze outside the window.

"Nah...don't worry, we did a great job..." Naruto said while sending her a wink. Tsunade looked back at him and felt the urge to smile, but in the end only a sad smile appeared on her face.

"You three did a great job, Naruto, but it was too risky with so many opponents...your life and your teammates' lives were in danger, I guess you know that..." Kakashi said.

Naruto looked on the floor.

"By the way...how is Sakura?" he asked.

"I don't know what to say..."Tsunade answered as she was flooded by sorrow. She felt as if she was losing her student and she felt extremely guilty for that. She didn't want to lose another precious friend because of the war and she was determined to save her this time.

At hearing this Sasuke got more curious.

"What do you mean you 'don't know'?"

"This jutsu, or how should I call it...it's a tough one...I've never seen anything like it, and although I, somehow managed to break it, there are still some side effects."

"Side effects?"

"Yes...her chakra is still a little unstable and she has some crisis from time to time because of it."

"Is her life in danger?" Naruto asked more afraid than ever. Tsunade let a sigh escape her mouth.

"I'm afraid so...if I don't do something to that chakra, it will end up killing her."

"Then do something...what are you waiting for?" Naruto yelled.

"Do you really think I didn't try? But nothing I've ever tried worked...I no longer know what to do..."

Naruto looked back on the ground, this time ashamed. He knew Tsunade must have done everything she could, as Sakura was one of the persons most dear to her.

"I am glad you are ok Sasuke..." and with that she got out of the room.

"There are situations in which is better to keep your mouth shut Naruto, aren't you ever going to learn that?" Kakashi asked.

"Sorry..."

* * *

After getting out of Sasuke's room, Tsunade felt the urge to go and see Sakura. The hospital was full of patients and there was barely any place for all the injured ones. She was very tired from all the healing she and the other medics did, but she still had some energy left.

As she opened the door to Sakura's room, she was met by Jiraiya who was leaning on the wall, eyes closed.

"How is your student? She doesn't look very well." He said as he opened his eyes and looked over the unconscious kunoichi, worried written on his face.

"She is bad...but I trust her power..." Tsunade said as she sat on the edge of Sakura's bed, checking her.

"It will be such a pity if we lose her...team seven would never be the same..."

"Indeed...but...even if I don't know what to do to her I hope that she will make it..."

"How is the other one?"

"He is fine...he just woke up...and you know...?" Tsunade asked him with a smile on her face.

"What?" Jiraiya asked back, confused.

"He asked for her and when he found out about a condition I was able to see a change on his face."

"What change?"  
"Worry..."

"I see..." Jiraiya said with a grin "this might end up pretty good."

"Let's hope so...but now I need some rest." She said as she stood up and got out of the room, Jiraiya following shortly after. Before he closed the door he directed his gaze once more to the limp body on the bed with an honest smile on his face. _'Do your best Sakura and prove your inner strength to everybody.'_ He thought as he closed the door.

* * *

Sasuke was left alone after Naruto and Kakashi decided they should no longer bother Sasuke and let him rest. But he could no longer sleep no matter how tired he felt, because he still felt a bit. He hadn't seen Sakura and it was because of this that he couldn't get some sleep. He wanted to see her just to make sure she was still alive. He trusted his teammates and the Hokage when they told him she was recovering but he wanted to see it with his own eyes. For the past sixty minutes he kept thinking about the whole situation. He was often ready to go see her but something kept pushing him back.

After deciding things could no longer stay like this he gathered all his courage and he stood up on his feet, slowly, as he didn't recover completely from his wounds, either. At first he supported himself on the nearby wall but his body quickly got used with standing and he managed to take a few steps by his own.

Although Sasuke didn't know where exactly her room was, he just searched for her chakra inside the building until he found a faint trail of it. In a few minutes he reached the door to her room and he found himself staring at it, no sure of what to do.

But he knew one thing...that he wasn't about to go back after coming up to this, and so he slowly opened the door. The room was engulfed with darkness, the only light coming from outside the window, from the glowing moon. His eyes landed immediately on the bed where she stood. Her arms were bandaged, with a few crimson stains on them. A blanket was reaching her chest, trying to keep her warm. Her hair was messy and all around her head. Sweat was shining on her forehead in the moonlight. Her eyes were closed. Her lips were slightly parted from the need of more oxygen.

The sight wasn't too great for Sasuke. He was more than afraid at seeing her like this. He gently stood on the edge of her bed and kept watching her as if he was being her guarding...the guarding to protect her from death itself. He even wondered how was he going to guard her if needed. He hoped such a moment won't come. Loosing another close person was certainly not in his plans.

The rustle of leaves was heard and he looked outside the opened window. The warm breeze brought inside a fresh air and Sasuke closed his eyes in enjoyment. He was a bit tired of the smell inside the hospital...the smell of meds and alcohol.

A shift on the bed made Sasuke open his eyes again. He wondered how long it passed since he closed his eyes. Did he fall asleep? Most likely. But now he was slightly frightened at the scene in front of him.

Sakura was sweating heavily and she began shaking. By the intense rise of her chest he realized she must be having trouble breathing. Her already faint chakra became almost unrecognizable as it had a strange aura. He put his hand on her forehead only to realize how much it burnt from the fever.

His own heart began beating faster and adrenaline was making its way inside his body. He watched her expression...her pained expression. She was still unconscious...probably in a deep but frightful slumber.

He leaned closer to her and whispered soothing words in her ear, but none of these seemed to work. He didn't give up.

"Calm down Sakura...I'm here...Your Sasuke..." He looked back at her and realized she only got worse. Her shaking became uncontrollable and her hands unwillingly clenched on the blanket. He could hear her soft sobs and he wished there was something he could do.

He grabbed her shoulders and he moved a bit so that he could hold her in his arms. He continued to whisper in her ear but he realized she couldn't hear him. A foolish thing coming from him.

Her chakra was almost depleted. He kept holding her in his arms as he realized her shaking wasn't as intense as it was before. She was finally relaxing, much to his relief. He was ready to go get a medic if she didn't stop any time sooner. But somehow he trusted her. He believed she was strong enough to deal with a jutsu like this.

Katsuro already said she was strong enough to counter it a bit, so why wouldn't she be able to counter its side effects? He also knew that Sakura needed trust more than anything. He knew she didn't want anyone consider her weak and he somehow felt sorry for all the times he had called her so, even though she deserved it. He was well aware of the fact that this is what determined her to become more powerful. Her determination to prove everybody that she wasn't weak took her on the highest ranks. And he was proud of her.

Now, he stood there holding her tight in his arms, as he listen to her soften breaths. She stopped shaking and sobbing. It was a good thing and he allowed himself to relax too. Having her warm skin against his was a good way to make him forget about everything...as what anyone would think if they saw him like this in the morning. Right now he didn't care at all. Perhaps it was time to show part of his well hidden feelings. Perhaps this was a lesson that proved him that hiding his emotions weren't the answer. Perhaps Sakura's condition was meant to tell him that he should have realized his true feelings earlier and try to win her back.

A shinobi's life can be short sometimes. Sakura's life might be short enough not to allow her to know that her unrequited love was far from being like this.

All these showed Sasuke how wrong he was all the time. To think that in a world like this you could keep delaying things like this or you could always walk with a mask on your face. But in moments like this, Sasuke felt that wearing a mask all his life was futile. He knew he did the right thing by ignoring Sakura when they were younger, although he hurt her feelings so many times. But if she wanted to grow up, someone had to show her life's bad side too. He wasn't glad that he was one of those people but he had no choice.

But still...he could have come back to Konoha earlier and then he could have thrown away his mask. And yet he didn't. He decided it was best for him to keep traveling a while. He was being selfish again. After he finally came back to Konoha, he kept denying the fact that he actually had deep feelings for her. Only years later realized how wrong he was.

Only now he realized that without her he world would not seem this bright. Somehow she managed to enlighten his life. She and Naruto, his best friend. The entire Konoha did this from time to time. But he felt Sakura so far away from him that sometimes it pained him.

Now it pained him. But he was not going to let such emotions enter his heart again. He would fight for her in his own way. But he will do it...he was certain...he had faith in himself... and faith in Sakura...he was going to trust her. She would survive this whole incident because he now trusted her more than ever.

* * *

Updating took forever...I know and I'm sorry. I'm just being extremely lazy.


	7. Unable to forget

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**VII. Unable to forget**

He didn't remember when he fell asleep, but he was supposed to be hospitalized so it was pretty reasonable that fatigue reached him.

He was awoken by a soft pain on his side and he knew the way he was holding her was the cause of it. He wasn't fully recovered either, probably not even allowed to leave his room. The walk to Sakura's room was tiresome and it didn't bring him any good. A foolish decision indeed.

He looked outside the window and realized it was still night. He looked back at the woman in his arms and noticed that she was ok, for now.

He gritted his teeth as the pain throbbed again and if he stood like that any longer, he was sure it would become unbearable.

He moved Sakura's body a little so that he could stand up. He had to move slowly, to ease his pain and to not disturb her. When he was able to stand on his feet he still had to support himself on the bed, as he placed his hands on it. He looked at her face again. It was almost unrecognizable...the way she looked more dead than alive.

The dilemma in his mind was growing bigger by the minute. He didn't know what to do next. He needed rest. He knew it all too well, as he breathed heavily. He, somehow, didn't want to leave her side, afraid that she might leave forever in his absence...afraid that death might claim her if no one was guarding her.

But every time he was about to stay, the fatigue and pain reminded him that he, too, needed a bed. Sakura's was only for one person and he won't be able to hold her in his arms without the pain increasing. And, also, what would the others think if they found out he left his own hospital room, to stay with her.

It wasn't for his pride...just that he won't be able to stand them. He was a bit afraid to show his deep feelings for Sakura. He admitted that to himself. He won't be able to explain why he did such an affectionate gesture, as he wasn't the type of person to do things like this, neither showing them.

He remembered what the last thought he had before he fell asleep was. He _trusted_ her. He knew that even if he stood here he won't be of any use in her battle against death. It was simply pointless. If he stood with her, just so that he will be with her, it will be pointless too, as she was unconscious.

Sasuke had made his decision.

He looked at her and slowly leaned forward, as he kissed her forehead. After one last caress on her cheek, he left her room and headed towards his, with heavy steps. Once in a while he had to take a break and lean on the nearest wall as he felt his knees melting.

Only 2-3 nurses passed by him and he had to act like he was not in pain. When he reached his room he felt relief but in the same time, he felt a bit of guilt for leaving her side. Even if it was of no use for her if he stood there, it was definitely of a great use for him. Although he trusted her, he simply couldn't help but feel bad. Pointless or not, a part of him wanted to stay with her.

But he felt himself succumb to sleep even as he stood on his feet, so he decided to wait no longer, as he collapsed on his bed, barely even covering himself with the blanket. It was a bad choice to move this soon but now that there was no coming back, all he hoped was that it will end up good.

He was awoken again in the afternoon, by the looks of it. Someone was checking on him and for a second he actually believed it might have been Sakura who was in his room. But she wasn't there. It was just Tsunade.

"You were a bit naughty last night, judging by your state..." she said. He didn't look at her.

"When can I leave?"

"You'll have to stay one more day thanks to your adventure from last night...I don't want to know what were you doing but you should reconsider the fact that if I still held you in a hospital bed it must have been for a pretty good reason...next time think about it and don't spoil the medics' efforts to bring you back on the line." She continued to scold him as if he were a five year child.

"How is the situation with Earth Country?"

"It's better by the day...they admitted their defeat and I expect them to propose us a peace treaty one of these days...that, if they aren't foolish enough to keep considering themselves higher than us..." the blonde said with a smirk.

"We'll have to hope that no more tricks will be pulled against us, won't we?" Sasuke asked.

"Betrayal will always be part of the shinobi world if that's what you mean..."

He flinched a bit at her words that brought memories not so pleasant.

"I know."

"You know better than anyone else."

"Probably..."

"You do and if I was able to forget about your past I hope you managed to do it too."

"I will never forget what happened."

Tsunade looked at him with a saddened expression.

"But at least I feel better that he somehow paid for what he did."

"When you did it...how did you feel?"

She continued to look at him as he remained silent.

"Amazed...grieved...but satisfied."

"You know...I'm very pleased that you opened up a bit for me...but think about what I am going to tell you...you may not have anyone from your family but you have friends that care for you a lot and Konoha managed to love you once again after the forgiveness was given to you."

Tsunade wanted to say these words for while. Even if Sasuke was back to his normal state, she somehow felt the need to remind him that Konoha loved him and he always had a place to stay in there.

After one last check on him she turned to leave.

"You can leave tomorrow morning."

"Thank you." She looked at him over her shoulder and he knew that too as he looked back at her with a small smile on his face. She smiled too before she got out of the room. He was definitely the old Sasuke everybody knew...no...it was a better version on him, that didn't base his life on sorrow and revenge. He was clean and she knew he was like that for a long while.

The next morning Sasuke was feeling much better as if the pain on his said never bothered him. He appreciated Tsunade's work and he was glad he was able to move now without any pain or effort.

Outside his room, Naruto was quickly approaching him.

"Hey Sasuke...glad you're out."

"Yeah...what do we do now?"

"Maybe a little training." He answered grinning. Sasuke just smirked.

"What about the others?"

"Kakashi had a little business to do and he told me to get you to the training grounds."

"And...?"

"And Sakura is still the same." Naruto continued, this time the grin disappearing, only to be replaced by a sad expression. Sasuke noticed that too and he realized once again how much he cared for her. Unlike him, Naruto did not hide his emotions. If he was feeling down because of Sakura's condition he wasn't afraid to show it. Sasuke did not know if to envy him or not.

They began walking outside the hospital in complete silence as all the topics for a little chat seemed to have vanished completely after the mention of her condition.

Naruto also knew that Sasuke was attached to the team once again. He was always attached to them but after leaving Konoha he tried his best to severe those ties, but he couldn't do it.

And after he came back to Konoha he reinforced those ties. Naruto did not know how, but he noticed that Sasuke was caring more for Sakura. If it was love or simply friendship, he did not know, for Sasuke's feelings were hard to distinguish in this matter. He didn't know what to think about Sakura neither.

While she was showing her care for Sasuke as a friend and teammate, he did not know if it was wise to say that she loved him as woman would love her husband. Judging by the way she behaved around him in past years he was no longer sure if she was still in love with him; she probably managed to get over it.

Naruto was brought back from his thoughts when they arrived at the training grounds and Sasuke was standing in front of him looking at him curiously.

Naruto put a sheepish smile which turned into a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. He was probably spacing out for a long time as Sasuke appeared to be quite amused about this whole situation.

"Hehe...sorry about that..."

"Ever since we left the hospital you kinda spaced out completely..." Sasuke said as if inquiring an explanation about what was Naruto thinking so deeply.

"Well...you know the recent events are a bit surprising and I was just thinking about them."

"Hm..."

With that being said, Sasuke went in the center of the training grounds.

"I'm worried about Sakura." Naruto confessed. Sasuke looked up at him.

"She's been like this for almost a week and she does not show any signs of recovery...even Tsunade is afraid for her..."

Sasuke stood there unable to say anything. He was hoping he will forget for a few moments about her precarious health but his plans were obviously ruined.

"Why won't you say anything?" Naruto almost yelled through gritted teeth "Don't tell me you're back to your emotionless and careless state...after all we did for you...after all she did for you..."

This time Sasuke looked up at Naruto, eyes turning angry.

"Who told you I don't care?" Naruto seemed to be taken aback by what he heard. "But we can't do anything right? So stop worrying so much and have a little faith in her." He almost yelled as he headed back toward his home, leaving Naruto a little too confused.

He couldn't believe his ears. Sasuke was trusting Sakura more than he did, and he had to admit that the Uchiha said a wise thing. The blond couldn't help but smile at this. That wasn't his intention but he managed to make him show a part of his affection for Sakura and it was so great to see him like this.

Meanwhile, Sasuke continued his walk back home, quite angered by Naruto.

He thought that by training with the blond will make him let aside his fears but in fact it only brought him worse. He was frightened again. He knew that Naruto had all the rights in the world to be worried but he was slightly annoyed that he didn't seem to trust Sakura.

The trust was brought once again in discussion.

But he knew that if Sakura didn't wake up any time sooner, they will lose all hopes for her to ever wake up. He mentally cursed Naruto, for now he couldn't get Sakura out of his mind no matter how much he tried.

* * *

A/N: So here was the seventh chapter of this story...


	8. Incomplete

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**VIII. Incomplete**

By the time Sasuke arrived at his home he somehow managed to calm himself down. The walk relaxed him a bit and he thought more about his future than Sakura. He was now a 21 year old man and was one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. But he had no family. The only family he could think of was his friends, but sometimes he wished that when walking on the halls of his house he wouldn't be alone.

After realizing his feelings for Sakura he wished that whenever he woke up in the morning, she would be there, in his arms, sharing body heat with him. He wanted to keep her warm in cold nights, to have her in her arms whenever she had those crises again.

But he also knew about the possibility of her not loving him anymore. After all, she only acted as a good friend when around him, but that was all, and it began frustrating for him.

He was brought back from his thoughts by a knock on his door. When opening it he saw Kakashi and Naruto standing by his doorway.

"What?"

"We have a mission." Kakashi answered. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his statement.

"This soon? I barely got out of hospital."

"She thinks you are more than ready to assist us."

"Ok...what mission?"

Sasuke was more than annoyed that he had to go on a mission. He simply wasn't in the mood for one but he knew the Hokage was the Hokage and there was no point to counter her decision.

"A-rank...some bastards wanted to take advantage of our situation from after the war."

"We have to eliminate them."

"How many?" Sasuke asked back getting a bit curious.

"Probably about twenty...but it's not something we can't deal with...we've been through worse..." Naruto said with a grin visible on his face. Sasuke smirked a bit at his friend's antiques.

"Who else is coming?"

"You, me, Kakashi and Neji."

One part of Sasuke wanted so much for Sakura to be able to come with them on this mission. Neji was her replacement and he knew it must be hard for Naruto and Kakashi too. Sakura rarely had to be replaced for a mission and when she was, they at least knew she was ok.

But now, the situation was different. It was a bit hard to focus on a mission when someone dear to them was in such a critical condition. It was difficult not to think that she might be dying while they were away, killing.

Even Kakashi thought thatTsunade's decision to send them away was a bit harsh judging by circumstances. But it couldn't be helped and he knew it all too well. He knew that after the war ended Tsunade needed more shinobi to defend Konoha from others that might take advantage of its weakened condition.

He had no choice but follow the Hokage's orders. Disobeying her was not a wise thing when the village was in a bad 'shape'. Shinobi were needed in such situations.

So, Kakashi could do nothing but go on this mission with his former students...some of them.

"Our meeting point is at the known bridge." He said as he and Naruto left Sasuke's house.

Once the door was closed Sasuke let out a sigh, as he headed towards the shower. He still had a few more time, more than enough for his preparations.

A few hours later he and Naruto, Kakashi and Neji were outside Konoha heading towards their location. They remained silent for most of the time, only talking about the mission and a few other crappy things. That was until Naruto couldn't take it anymore.

"This mission sucks." He openly complained. Everyone turned to look at him as they stopped their movements.

"Our mission didn't even begin and you already complain..." Sasuke said a little annoyed as he guessed where this was going to lead.

"No...I mean...how could she have done this?...send us on a mission while she is probably dying in that hospital."

The others stiffened at hearing this. The thought of the Hokage sending them, away knowing that Sakura is going to die right then didn't actually cross their minds.

"This is absurd, Naruto. Everyone knows she is in need of shinobi."

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked disbelievingly and with tears forming in his eyes "Are you sure there is still hope for Sakura?"

"Tsunade-sama will never send us away from Konoha because she knew Sakura will die the moment we are away...she knows better than that." Neji spoke.

"Do you really think she actually believes that if she sends us away while Sakura dies it will be more comforting for us?" Kakashi asked his former student with a slightly amused tone.

"And since when did you lose your faith in people?" Sasuke asked too with a visible smirk on his face.

At hearing his friends' encouragements Naruto was flooded by a large wave of relief and faith. He realized that they were right. Even Sasuke was more confident than he was.

"So, why don't we hurry up so that we can get back to Konoha sooner?" Sasuke proposed. Everybody nodded their heads in agreement as they leapt on the trees' branches towards their destination.

* * *

"Tsunade-sama...I don't see any sign of recovery..." Shizune said, unable to hold back one tear. She and the Hokage were in Sakura's hospital room, where the pink haired woman was having another of her tiresome crisis. She was sweating heavily, shaking, not to mention the heavy breaths she took, as she once again lacked oxygen.

Tsunade looked at her apprentice a little disturbed too, at seeing her in this condition. She was unconscious for a week now, and she didn't recover at all. She had the same crisis from time to time, that sometimes won't ease until one or two medics did something to calm her down.

The blonde that was once known of one of the Legendary Sannin, put one glowing hand on Sakura's chest to ease her breathing and the other one, with a different glowing nuance, on Sakura's forehead.

She was testing a new treatment, that might help Sakura, but this treatment was started two days ago and nothing changed.

"I wonder how long it will be until she will break down. She is actually in a coma for a week and I doubt that her brain will resist the fatigue." Shizune said.

"It's curious how such a powerful jutsu was created...that not even the greatest healers can find a remedy for it...that man was a great shinobi if we think of his techniques." Tsunade decided to join Shizune in talking.

"Yes...there are many who use curse jutsu, but everyone is different in its own way...there are the ones that you can still have a chance of survival after you get hit by them..."

"And the ones that give you not the tiniest chance..."

"I wonder in which one Sakura fits."

"I would be tempted to say the latter, but at least her situation didn't get worse so there is probably still a chance..." the blonde continued as she stood up and made her way towards the door "Make sure to put someone to watch her."

Shizune nodded. With one last glance at Sakura she left the room to follow her kage.

* * *

After five days, Sasuke and his teammates were finally coming back to Konoha. They did a great job and they managed to end the mission earlier, as Naruto was more than determined to get home as soon as possible, to check on their missing teammate.

As they entered the village and headed towards the Hokage tower, they were met by Shikamaru and Chouji,as they apparently just left the building.

"Hey Shikamaru, Chouji...long time no see..." Naruto grinned, while the aforesaid men nodded in greeting.

"Coming back from a mission?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah...we had to take care of some cowards." Kakashi answered with a small chuckle, while the others smile.

"What do you know about Sakura? These guys kept me running all time, only to get back here sooner." Neji asked with a small smirk. Shikamaru's and Chouji's troubled expressions were saying more than needed.

"Ino went to stay with her but she's still the same, from what we've heard." Chouji answered.

"We went to see her yesterday, but she was still unconscious and maybe more pale."

"Ohh...we should probably go to see the Hokage and give her our report." Kakashi broke the awkward silence. They did as they were told and after saying their goodbyes to the two shinobi they headed towards the tower.

Once there, Kakashi knocked at the door and opened it after he heard her 'come in'.

The four shinobi bowed at the view of their kage, even Naruto, as he grew more respectful over the years.

"This is our report." Kakashi said as he handed a scroll to Tsunade "Our opponents have been easily repelled and there is no need to worry for now."

"Good...you may leave now."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sasuke asked. Tsunade eyed him before speaking again.

"Actually, I was wondering when one of you will ask about her...still the same." She said as she stood up from her office and motioned them to follow her towards what seemed the hospital.

* * *

A small flashlight glittered in her sore eyes as she slowly opened them. The light stung in her eyes and she had to close them quickly. She wanted to rub her eyes with her hand, but it simply won't move. She opened her eyes again, still slowly as they became a bit wet from the intense light. She realized there was switched on neon on the ceiling.

The light wasn't very intense and probably one nurse forgot to switch it off. But her eyes were no longer used with the light after two weeks of comatose. A pulsating ache in her head and soreness of her eyes told her that she was still alive. But still, she couldn't concentrate on anything.

She could feel her body being on fire from the severe fever.

She tried to open her eyes again but they only moistened and a tear dropped from her left eye as she continued to hold them open.

She heard the door opening, yet she did not move to see who entered. It was as if she didn't care. But she couldn't think of anything. She was somehow absent of all these.

She heard voices but did not recognize them. She didn't understand what they were saying. She couldn't think of anything even as she tried her best.

She didn't even realize when someone touched her forehead until she could feel something. Chakra...it was healing chakra that was bringing her back to reality. She began realizing where she was, what happened to her and who was in her room although it was quite difficult at first. She managed to move her eyes only to look at a smiling blonde woman. She didn't understand anything for a second but then she heard the woman saying "Turn off the lights." And then in less than a second the lights were off, the only light being the natural one, coming from outside her hospital room's window.

Her eyes did not sting that much, now that only natural light entered the room. She began understanding little by little.

"Shishou..." she whispered comprehendingly. Tsunade smiled even wider as she looked at her now awaken apprentice...former apprentice. She couldn't believe that her new treatment actually worked, but now that she checked on her, she realized her once blocked chakra was 'working' again and she was sure the treatment she put on Sakura was merely an impulse for her own chakra to circulate again, and therefore fight the side effects of the jutsu.

Kakashi and Naruto were both smiling; tough Naruto was more like grinning at Sakura's sudden recover.

Kakashi was so relieved that he felt as if a heavy stone was just thrown away from his chest. The possibility of losing another dear person really made him very uncomfortable these days and he felt the need to visit the memorial stone more, depending on his leisure. He cared a lot about Sakura, as she managed to become one of his best friends.

It was somehow remarkable how their relationship changed from teacher-student to good friends. It was probably because of the time they spent together, through sad and happy moments. He remembered how Sakura cheered him up, when memories from his tumultuous past came back to him, or when he himself had to comfort her for her problems. They began understanding each other more, during these past years, and he was grateful that she, at least woke up. It was a good sign after all.

Naruto was feeling much better too. These two weeks were like torture to him. He almost lost one of his best friends and his 'sister'. Memories of her, smiling and laughing at him, were always coming back in his mind, as if to deepen the pain. Every time he looked at Kakashi he saw the pain hidden in his eye and it only brought him more suffering. When he looked at Sasuke he did not know how to feel. He saw he was having trouble controlling his own emotions. At the mention of Sakura's name he would always be a bit startled and he seemed to a deep in thoughts for many times.

In Naruto's opinion, he was probably thinking about Sakura a lot, and he was sure the bastard was a bit confused.

Every time he looked at Tsunade he realized the pain she was in too. And now, Naruto was feeling so good that by Sakura's awakening so many people were going to feel so relieved. The kunoichi were all by her side as much as they could. Ino, Hinata, Tenten even Temari came once to see her, as far as he knew.

Also, other shinobi of their age were always concerned about her condition.

Sasuke was, by far the most relieved from them all. The moment he entered the room and saw her red, wet eyes staring at the ceiling, his heart skipped a beat when he saw she was awake and then it beat faster and faster until it almost broke his ribcage seemed to keep his throbbing in place.

Naruto wanted to run towards Sakura's bed and probably hug her 'til she was out of breath but unfortunately for him, Tsunade stopped him and rushed over Sakura. He saw Kakashi standing near her bed with a smile visible behind his mask. He was probably feeling so happy that his former student and now friend woke up or better said escaped death's claws that he couldn't help the genuine smile spread over his hidden face.

Sasuke himself let a chaste smile appear on his face, but it disappeared as he saw how oblivious she was to all these. Her body woke up, but her mind seemed to be slower at that part. Still on the jutsu's effects and probably on the coma's effects too, she didn't realize that she was awake.

It kind of hurt him to see her so helpless. It looked nothing like the strong kunoichi he knew; this one was merely a helpless woman. But he knew what her potential was. He knew how strong she was and she proved her strength by waking up and being able to fight an extremely powerful jutsu with just her chakra.

He looked over at Tsunade, which began to somehow heal her, or better said to do something to bring her back to reality. He noticed how Sakura's eyes began traveling all over the room, even on him, but she didn't seem to recognize him or she looked as if she looked right through him. Tsunade persevered on her work and Sakura seemed to be slowly brought back to their reality, until she finally recognized her teacher by barely managing to whisper the word 'shishou'.

He heard it and his genuine smile appeared once again on his face. She was definitely making a wonderful recovery right in front of his eyes.

"Sakura...can you understand where you are and what happened?" Tsunade asked her. After a few seconds she tried to say something but she didn't find her voice or strength, so she wearily nodded.

"That means you should be a bit safer for now." Tsunade continued as she took notice of her body. She realized she couldn't move properly and tried another healing jutsu to release the energy in her body.

Sakura felt a bit better after this but she realized it was all her master could do for now.

"Thank you." She managed to whisper.

"You have nothing to thank me...I merely gave you an impulse, it was up thanks to you that you woke up...with your perfect chakra control and molding you managed to unconsciously fight the side effects of the jutsu..." the Hokage explained.

"And you gave us a sweet surprise." Kakashi said from another corner of the room.

It was only there that she realized it wasn't only her and Tsunade in the room. There was also Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke and Neji, the latter watching all this with a smile on his face and with a curious expression. In fact, as she looked at all of them she realized they were all smiling, even Sasuke. She managed to put a small smile on her face as she closed her eyes for a few seconds.

She opened them again and she looked over at Kakashi giving him a sweet smile, her signature.

"You kept us worried as hell, do you know that?" Naruto complained with a pout.

Sakura couldn't help but want to laugh at Naruto's adorable expression but as soon as she did that a throbbing pain emerged in her chest and she began coughing and gritted her teeth in pain. She clutched the blanket around her as she desperately searched for some way to ease the pain. Tsunade leaned over Sakura's form again, with concern written on her face.

"You should all take it easy...you're still not fully recovered." She said the last part to Sakura, who didn't cough that much anymore, and in a minute it was all gone.

Sakura opened her eyes again, now that the pain was almost gone and saw everybody's smiles have disappeared.

"Sorry 'bout that Sakura..." Naruto laughed nervously.

"Naruto..." Tsunade growled as a threat to the blond.

"It's good to have you back Sakura-san." Neji said while a smile appeared once again on his face "Now if you excuse me, I have to go to meet the rest of my clan."

"Don't worry...we can take it on." Kakashi said as Neji chuckled, leaving the room.

"So...how long does she have to stay in the hospital?" Naruto asked.

"As long as it needed for her to recover, dumbass." Sasuke replied with a smirk on his face. Now that Sakura woke up he felt in the mood for teasing Naruto, who wanted to jump on him but Sasuke immediately jumped next to Tsunade.

"Sasuke...I just woke up...and all you do is...teasing Naruto?" Sakura said as she managed to find her voice this time, and barely make herself heard. Sasuke looked down at her and they seemed to stare at each other for centuries.

"Glad you're back." He said with a small smirk as everyone turned to look at him. Kakashi was a little amused by all this; Naruto was watching him suspiciously, while Tsunade had her own smirk on her face.

Sakura continued to stare at Sasuke who shared it with her.

"Now, I mean it...how long will Sakura have to stay here?" Naruto asked, this time serious.

"It depends on how her recovery goes on...I didn't manage to repel all the side-effects, of that I'm sure." Tsunade answered.

There was a moment of silence before Tsunade stood up and headed for the door.

"Sakura, I suggest you do not try to move too much and you" she pointed for her team "better not disturb her too much..." and with that the troubled Hokage got out of the room.

Sakura closed her eyes as they began being sore again.

"Sakura...I hope you're not sleeping." Naruto said. She slowly lifted her hand to her eyes and a small glow was seen as she tried to dispel the soreness of her eyes.

"You know you barely have any chakra...you should let us call some medics." Sasuke said. After she was done she put her hand back on the mattress and opened her fixed eyes. She smiled a bit at Sasuke.

"I'm a medic too...and a good one...I will call them when I will die...not when my eyes are sore."

"Talking about death too easily, don't you think?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm not...It's just that I...have my pride too." She replied with a wink of her left eye. Kakashi chuckled at seeing her a bit more lively.

She felt a new wave of fatigue enter her system and she closed her eyes again. A new throbbing in her head made her to wince a bit but she felt consciousness slowly drift away from her.

"So...what did you do? While I...was...unconscious..."

"We had a crappy mission and we barely came back." Naruto answered, a bit worried to see her slipping away again.

"Crappy?"

"Yeah...I mean...we really missed you and it was kind of weird not having you on our team, but Neji."

Sakura looked on the nearby wall with half lidded eyes. She was grateful that she managed to survive but still, she felt a bit sorry that she had them worried that much.

"I'm...sorry." She whispered.

"It's ok...It wasn't your fault." Kakashi said as he approached her and squeezed her hand.

"Right..."

"I had to admit that our team was quite incomplete without you." Sasuke said as he smirked, looking at Sakura's puzzled gaze. "I think incomplete is the most suitable word."

She took one last glance over him and couldn't help the small smile from spreading over her lips. She felt her eye lids slowly began to close as her vision became more blurry by the second.

And with a blurry image of Sasuke smiling impregnated in her mind, she could no longer fight the unconsciousness from reaching her again.


	9. Rain

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**IX. Rain**

He didn't remember how long he stood there watching her tired slumber, as she fell once again unconscious. It's been two days since she first woke up and yet she didn't give any signs of awakening any time sooner.

When his teammates asked why she was asleep again, Tsunade will simply say the bed-ridden woman was exhausted from fighting the jutsu and she needed rest.

But still...what if the blonde lied them to hide a cruel reality? What if the first time she woke up would be the last time she would have ever woken up since the treacherous jutsu hit her?

And after all these questions, she stirred in her bed as she began mumbling unrecognizable words. She slowly opened her eye lids, just as she did the first time she woke up from the coma. This time, her return to reality was faster as she directed her tired glance on the figure of her black haired teammate and friend.

For a moment they just stared. Sakura barely had the power to say something and she decided to keep her voice for more precious words, while Sasuke simply didn't know what to say.

He looked at the way her hair was a bit ruffled, at her half closed eyes that were slightly swollen from the lack of peaceful sleep, at the way her chest rose up with slow breaths...at the way she was still beautiful after all these. She still seemed to glitter in the dark no matter how much the gloom and grief would seem to cover everything.

She looked at the way he seemed to have his gaze glued on her...the way his eyes were trying their best to hide the little spark that shone within his soul since the moment she woke up again.

Maybe she didn't understand these things, but something at him looked so fondling that it was heard to look elsewhere...hard to leave him...

But the thoughts each of them had were crushed as the door opened and Tsunade entered the room to check on her patient. She knew when Sakura woke up as her senses alerted her, all too well.

"You're awake again..." she said to her former student "how do you feel this time?"

"A little better." Sakura answered back. Tsunade went to check her and she knew in an instant the bed-ridden woman still needed some time to recover, as some side effects were still messing around in her body.

"I want to go home..." Tsunade looked up at her with a small frown.

"You still have a long way to recover...you're in not condition to leave this hospital."

"I'm a medic too and I know that very well..." she had stop to take a deep breath as a soft pain emerged from her back "but I also know I can take care of myself and I would like to take the side effects away with my own hands..."

"You..." but Tsunade didn't get to finish her sentence as Sakura interrupted her again.

"Plus, I am no longer in danger..."

Tsunade stood on her chair next to the bed and she seemed to ponder Sakura's words for a few seconds.

"I know...but I don't think it's that prudent to leave the hospital this soon."

"You will need beds and I don't want to be a burden."

"The number of injured ninjas decreased since the war stopped."

Sakura no longer knew what to say. The fact was that she missed her home and sitting in a hospital bed as others took care of her, while she herself was the top medic in Konoha wasn't such a pleasant feeling. She was feeling like a burden again and the feeling abhorred her. And it wasn't only for this but for the fact that she wanted to do her own research on the side-effects of jutsu and find the complete remedy by herself. She found all this as a challenge she was willing to take and win. By battling with the jutsu on her own she was going to win the battle.

Meanwhile, Sasuke just stood near the window listening to the whole conversation, slightly amused that they acted as if he wasn't even in the room. He didn't know what to think about Sakura's decision either, but with one look at her and the fact that Tsunade was seriously thinking if to agree or not with her decision, made him think that Sakura was no longer in such danger and from now on she could be capable of taking care of herself.

"As you wish...you will stay at home and if the situation goes out of control give me a call..." she finally said with a soft smile

"Thank you..." Sakura said with a smile of her own.

"But I will send someone to check on you from time to time."

"That's really not necessary..."

"It's pointless to keep arguing..." Tsunade almost yelled, making Sakura to keep her mouth shut.

But as she watched her teacher's antiques, Sakura couldn't help but smile as she slowly got up from the bed. It was the first movement she had in the last two weeks and she could feel her limps taking the chill off. She now, stood on the edge of the bed, in front of Tsunade.

"Remember to take things easy...your body hasn't move for quite a long time..." Tsunade advised her.

Sakura nodded and as she pressed her hands on either side of her she slowly pushed her body up, managing to stand on her feet for the first time in almost two weeks. She could feel her body shaking from all the sudden movements but it got used to it again within a couple of minutes.

She tried to make a step forward and she felt like a little baby exploring the world on their feet. She slightly stumbled and she put her left arm on the nearby wall to support herself. Her chakra was regenerating and her levels were quite enough to make a short healing session, leaving the rest to support her efforts. After molding the healing chakra inside her body she felt a little better and she pushed herself from the wall to take confident steps this time.

In a matter of seconds she managed to reach Tsunade, who backed away from the bed in order to give Sakura some space. As the pink haired woman reached her teacher and mentor she couldn't help but give her a warm hug, which the blonde quickly returned.

"Thank you again...I couldn't make it without you.' Sakura said.

"Don't worry...you should thank yourself...there isn't much I could do...you body triggered healing techniques even as you were unconscious and it probably is from all the years you specialized in healing...it's a great achievement from your side Sakura." Tsunade said as she managed to comfort her student.

The two kunoichi pulled away from the hug only to smile and giggle softly.

Sasuke was still standing by the window, and he thought he might as well sleep soundly there, without being noticed when someone touched his arm gently.

"Hey Sasuke..."

It was Sakura that somehow managed to reach him without being noticed by him. He blamed him for that as he was too busy having ridiculous thoughts.

She came to rest on the wall in front of him, as she gazed outside the window, at the viridian trees that kept being swept from side to side, sometimes throwing leaves on the ground.

She was confined by the scenery that she didn't notice the eyes staring at her. When she finally woke up from her reverie she looked at him, giving him the sweetest smile.

"When are you going to leave?" Sasuke asked.

"Tsunade-sama said I should wait for someone to come and get me home."

"Since when do you want for someone's help...I thought you said you didn't want to be a burden." He said with the softest smirk.

"I'm not stupid enough as to walk alone on the street or jump on the roofs in my condition...once I get home I won't need anyone else."  
"Who are you waiting for?" Sasuke asked as he looked outside the window. She followed his gaze too, and noticed some ashy clouds leisurely crossing the blue sky. He was still waiting for her answer and the silence she gave him didn't let him much to think.

"I don't know..." she answered as she looked back at him. But what she did not expect was the fact that Sasuke swiftly pulled her in his arms, one hand under her knees, and the other one under her shoulders. Everything happened so fast that her brain barely had the time to register what happened and in a blink of an eye she found herself still in Sasuke's arms, but on the hospital's roof.

"What the hell?" she asked with a soft frown as she put her arms around his neck to better sustain herself, since she felt her head spinning.

"I'm taking you home..." Sasuke asked as he stood still on the rooftop, closing his eyes and inhaling the fresh air surrounding him. He opened his eyes again and he looked down at a puzzled Sakura.

He didn't let much time for her brain to process as he immediately jumped in the direction of Sakura's apartment, and in a matter of seconds they were standing outside her door. He noticed by the way she clung to him, that she wasn't feeling too good.

"You ok?" he asked as he looked down her. She met his gaze and she forced a smile to appear on her face.

"Yes..." she said as she pushed the door open with her right hand. They entered her house and Sasuke was once again amazed by the myriad of scrolls from the shelves, most of them being medical ones. He noticed that near the shelves with the scrolls, was a quite large bookshelf with all kinds of books, from novels that Sakura began to like more and more to simple books about jutsu and other ninja related. Luckily for her Sakura's apartment was large enough for her to be able to have a large library within it.

After studying her living room long enough he moved towards the couch and gently placed her there, as they separated from each other.

Sasuke felt cold after her body heat left him, and an uneasy feeling made its way down his stomach. Sakura looked curiously at him, but decided it was nothing important so she let it aside.

"I'll make you a hot tea..." he said as he left for her kitchen before she even had time to reply.

She sank back on her couch, feeling the effects of the movements she had today.

A throbbing ache was found in her head, and she felt nausea catching up with her. Her back hurt as well as her limbs and she tried her best to do something about it. When her chakra didn't work at all, she slowly got up from the couch, only to slump back on it, feeling even dizzier. Her world was spinning faster and in a dazzling way that she fought hard not to show it.

She now, wondered if it was actually a good decision to leave the hospital this soon, but she knew she would feel the same and she wanted to do something too.

So, after deciding she felt just a little better she managed to get up from the couch and took slow steps towards the bookshelf, or more like dragged herself. As she walked her nausea increased and she closed her eyes unable to sustain the sensation. She felt like throwing up and it wasn't pleasant. She felt the urge to simply collapse on the floor and while her left hand went to her head putting healing chakra in it, her right hand blindly searched for anything to lean on.

As she took a step forward her legs simply couldn't hold her anymore and she fell to her knees. Just as she was about to completely collapse on the floor she felt strong arms lifting her and she knew who it was.

Sasuke was lifting her easily as he carried her to the bedroom.

When he was making the tea he felt her chakra turning dangerously low, and he knew something was wrong with her. He rushed into the living room only to find her on her knees, with a glowing hand to her head while the other one lay next to her.

He took notice of the disorientated look she had and it scarred him to actually see her like that. She seemed confined in a different dimension and that wasn't good.

He laid her gently on the bed as he took dragged a chair next to her bed. The glowing hand was still on her head and the jutsu she was using at the moment seemed to give good results.

"Better?" he asked, his eyes glued on her. She slowly looked at him and for a few long seconds they just stared.

It looked like they made habit out of staring and the use of body language increased dramatically.

"Yes...I need you to get me a book from the bookshelves...it's a red one, about ancient remedies for curse jutsu..." they kept staring "please..." and with that she directed her gaze outside her window, which was at her right.

Pellucid droplets of water hit her window as it began raining. The sky was now ash-hued as the surroundings became darker by the minute. It was clear that dusk was settling it, and the mournful weather made it look as if it came earlier.

When she looked back at her left side, where Sasuke sat on his chair, she noticed he no longer stood there. She stared at the empty seat as she let the hand drop from her head.

She was feeling better now, thanks to her advanced medical knowledge. But she still needed a more advanced technique to completely remove the jutsu.

So absorbed was she in her thoughts that she didn't notice him approaching her until the hand with the book she asked for, was right in front of her face.

She looked up at him and gave him a chaste smile, a genuine one directly from her heart.

"Thank you..." she said as she grabbed the book, and for a second their hands brushed against each other. The caress of their hands brought thrills down Sakura's back as her heart sped her beatings. She opened her book and searched absent-minded through it. She could no longer concentrate on what she planned on doing. Tough she wanted so much to get rid of this 'burden' as she would often call the jutsu.

She suddenly felt so hollow...she looked at her right where Sasuke sat on his chair once again and realized how he has looked at her throughout all this time.

There was something strange in his eyes, that she couldn't identify...it was something she had never seen at him...or if she had seen, which was probably only on rare occasions, she was sure she hadn't paid too much attention.

"My tea..." she said and Sasuke suddenly remembered about it.

After Sakura was on the brink of passing out he completely forgot about it and the water he put in the tea kettle was probably evaporated by now.

He quickly got up and rushed towards the kitchen only to find traces of water on the bottom of the vase, boiling from the fire. He took the tea kettle and after filling it with water again he put on the cooker and this time he planned on watching over it 'til the end this time.

He heard Sakura flipping pages inside her room and he knew that she was finally working.

Of course he noticed how she spaced out with the book in her hands, after they touched each other. It wasn't as if was the first time they touched, but this time it held a tinge of tenderness that they both enjoyed.

He was brought back to reality by the boiling water and in a few minutes her steaming cup of tea was in his hand as he walked towards her bedroom.

She was standing the same way as she did when he left her bedroom only that she had a notebook and a pen next to her, taking notes from time to time. As he approached her she lifted her gaze to his and he gave her the cup of tea, this time with no problems.

She abandoned her work to better enjoy the hot yet flavored tea.

The rain was pounding hard on her window, this time with bigger drops as it became darker and darker. Sasuke lit up the lamp she had on her nightstand.

"Found anything there?" he asked as he made a sign towards the book.

"I only found vague information...I have a feeling that I will have to use my imagination but for that I have to keep searching." She said as she took a sip of her tea.

He watched her as she did so but he looked outside her window, quickly after. He felt like a little child sneaking in the kitchen for some sweets, his mother forbid him from eating...he like a child for always feeling the urge to look at her. He found her beauty, because he admitted to himself that she was beautiful, confining and that's how he was...confined...his heart was confined by hers...how much he wanted for hers to be confined by his...but he was no longer sure.

"Stay for the night...I would appreciate it..." she whispered as she closed her eyes. She was so confused...

He looked back at her as if he hadn't heard well...but he did.

"Why is that?"

"I might need help..." she said as a confession.

"For what?"

"My chakra is low...I'm not feeling that good and Tsunade already told me someone has to 'look' over me...she left me no point to argue."

Sasuke smirked at the last piece of information.

"She has that effect even on you?"

She had to open her eyes so that she was able to send him a well deserved glare.

"I wasn't in the condition to fight her back." She replied with a small pout.

"Ok ok..." he said as she calmed down.

She wanted to laugh at this but she managed to just smile as she knew a throbbing pain will burst in her chest if she laughed. She stretched her hand to put her now empty cup on the nightstand. But as she did so, the notebook fell on the floor and she tried to bend to catch it in time.

She didn't get to grab it as an arm, belonging to Sasuke, caught it before and they found themselves with their faces only inches apart.

They stared...again...as if they looked right in their souls. The rain wasn't pounding that hard on the window anymore...in fact it turned out into a peaceful rainfall. The darkness began consuming the outside world. But all these things were unnoticed by the two as they seemed to slowly move.

They moved...closer to each other. They were pulled closer by a magnetic force, unknown to them...or maybe it was...

They could feel each other's breaths on their faces...they could feel the heat emanating from each other's bodies...they could almost their hearts beats...they could almost touch themselves.

The air around them seemed to be filled with tenderness...with _love_...

And then...they kissed...their lips touched themselves in such soft way as everything seemed to happen in slow motion...time seemed to run slower...time has even stopped for them as their tongues entangled with the other...

He brought a hand up to caress her cheek...that hand moved affectionately down her jaw line, leaving love traces on her skin...it reached her neck...then it went down her back, joining his other hand to caress her back...to bring their bodies even closer, as all he had dreamt for was now coming true.

She slowly snaked her arms around his neck, searching for a support as her world began spinning. Was it from their passionate encounter or was she feeling sick again? She wanted to think it was the first one. It seemed so unbelievable that this was happening...they actually shared a kiss...he was kissing her...and she was kissing him back. She thought she no longer had feelings for him, but the urge she felt to keep on holding him close said a totally contrary thing...maybe she still loved him..._maybe_.

Yet they had to separate as the lack of oxygen made Sakura to feel dizzy again. She closed her eyes and tried to take deep breaths and she barely managed to come back to normal.

As she opened her eyes again, onyx orbs were gazing deep into hers. They were still embracing each other...as if they never wanted to let go.

"You ok?" he asked as he moved a hand to caress her forehead, then her cheek. She slightly moved her head in his palm. She nodded and he bent over her face to put a chaste kiss on her forehead, before putting his own forehead on hers, fixing her to the place with a penetrating look.

Yet his eyes showed something...

"I'm sorry it took me so long..." he whispered as he desperately waited for her response.

She knew what he was apologizing for...his behavior in the past days now had an explanation.

She should feel excited by his slight confession...yet she only felt a tinge of that...she was more likely confused...too confused for her own likeness.

The irony of life was proving to become painful and she closed her eyes to stop the tears from flowing. If only he was a little earlier, maybe she would have met him with opened arms.

But still, she enjoyed their kiss too...she responded to it...she wanted to feel his body closer too...

What was happening with her feelings?

"I'm sorry for being so confused..." she whispered and with that she mustered all her strength and ran towards her window, sitting on the sill, as she watched the rain flowing down her window.

The room was now covered in silence...the only sounds heard were the dripping of water in the pools they forming in the muddy ground and their gentle assail on her window.

The weather decided to cry with her...it seemed like it understood her and maybe even knew this was going to happen...she was crying with the rain.

And he understood why she was confused. But there was a still chance for their love, that's what he thought.

So he took confident strides towards her. When reaching her he placed his arm around her waist, as he put his head on her shoulder. They stood there in silence, listening to the murmurs of the rain.

She found herself enjoying his touch too much...she craved for it since she pulled away from their embrace...she..._loved_ me... She now realized her confusion was only based on her fears for rejection. All these made sense now...

She turned her head around so that their lips were only inches away. He looked at her...she looked at him.

"You're cold." He whispered before he picked her up in his arms, like he would pick a silky feather, and moved towards the bed. After pulling the blankets away she put her there before sliding under the blankets him himself. This shocked Sakura a bit, before she realized his good intentions. He was taking his role of watching over her seriously. And she couldn't complain.

He moved closer to her body until they were once again touching...he put an arm around her waist as he warmed her back. Putting his head on the back of her head her scent invaded his nostrils like an alluring perfume. In fact, that alluring perfume belonged to her only.

He closed his eyes and realized sleep won't be far away with her in his arms. The moment he long dreamt for finally came true...she was in his arms and he had a feeling this time will be for good.

He saw her turning her head around to face him, as she gave him a peck on his lips. He smiled after she broke away and he could see her smiling too.

He decided to wait until she fell asleep...to guard her sleep like he always wanted.

As the rain was still brushing gently across her window, she managed to succumb in the world of pendulous dreams, as he wanted to think.

As soon as he noticed she was no longer awake he allowed himself to fall asleep too...and it was the most peaceful and soundly slumber he had had in past days...weeks...months...maybe even years...

* * *

A/N: ok ok...I really enjoyed writing this chapter...I hope you enjoyed reading it as well...


	10. Release

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**X. Release**

During the night he woke up a few times to check on the woman sleeping next to him...in his arms. He noticed the heavy breaths she was taking or the stirrings caused by her still uncomfortable slumber. He could almost hear her intense heartbeat and he found himself worried about her, out of the blue.

She was no longer having fever or shivers, yet he pulled her closer to him, as to try preventing those syndromes to ever come back. He remembered her dizziness from the day and he knew she still, wasn't recovered.

As her body was glued to his, he noticed that she wasn't that cold anymore, but wasn't too warm either so he just decided to share his body heat with her, falling asleep as soon as he knew she was ok.

The next time he woke up, morning already came. Though last night he had to wake up several times, he wasn't feeling tired at all. Quite on the contrary...he felt as if he hadn't slept for years, until last night, only to wake up fully replenished the next morning.

He looked at his right side, where Sakura laid, facing him. A few locks of hair fell in her closed eyes and he couldn't help but put them aside. She was apparently having a better slumber, than last night, and he gently leaned over to put a chaste kiss on her forehead.

After staring at her a few more minutes he decided to get up. He wasn't the person that enjoyed doing nothing...

* * *

She opened her heavy eye lids, slowly, being met by the view her window gave. She was surprised to see the golden sunbeams invading her room, after last night's pour. Her condition was a bit better and she had to admit that she had quite a good sleep last night.

As her gaze traveled on the bed, she noticed the empty side of it. For a moment she thought that Sasuke staying with her last night was just a hallucination, if it weren't for the still warm spot he left on the sheets.

And she found it hard to believe he had been so sweet as to do such thing for her, nor to, indirectly, admit his feelings for her. She put her left hand on the right side of the bed, where he had been, touching the still warm sheets and blanket.

She was so surprised by how much he has changed.

Years ago, when they still hunted him, he said the only bond he had was the loathsome bond with his brother. And years later, he admitted his feelings for her, not to mention the reintegration in the Konoha society.

But she suddenly wondered where he left. The house was silent, and she could barely feel his chakra.

Yet a strong smell seemed to have invaded her nostrils and she inhaled it deeper. It was the odor the tea he gave to her last night, had. She smiled again at his tenderness, knowing that he was still in her apartment, probably making her tea.

She closed her eyes, still smiling. Her confusion last night came to an end when she realized her feelings only deepened in time.

The tea aroma intensified and she opened her eyes again. Her gaze traveled towards the doorway, where Sasuke was standing with two steaming cups of tea in both his hands. She looked at him, at his calm expression as slowly stood up from the bed.

Doing so, she was reminded that she still wasn't recovered, by a strange pain in her chest. Luckily for her, she managed to mask her pain.

He approached her and stood on the edge of the bed, handing Sakura her cup of tea, while he took a sip from his.

"How are you today?" he asked, as calm as ever. Sakura looked up from her cup to look straight in his eyes.

"Better...I will perform a healing session to get rid of any other side effects, but I'm not sure how stable my chakra is."

"Since I'm here, I'll lend you my chakra." He said as he leaned closer to her, giving her the signal he was ready.

"O-ok..." she whispered as she leaned on her back "Put one hand on my forehead and the other one on my stomach." She instructed him as she closed her eyes. Soon she could feel his hands on her forehead and stomach, and she put her own above his'.

As soon as her hands began emanating a faint and unstable green, he pumped his own chakra in his hands, letting her use it for the needed healing. The small pain she had in her chest from when she got up was soon gone away, and her own chakra was controllable again.

His Sharingan saw through her healing and he was amazed to see how his chakra released her own, and her system began working properly again. Her lungs, her liver...even her heart were back to normal. He was amazed to see that she has finished her healing in such short amount of time...and mostly because she did it so well, judging by the fact that she was using foreign chakra. In moments like this he truly admired her.

"It's done." She whispered as her hands moved away from his.

But even so, he still hasn't moved at all; he just stared at her, and then leaned over her, kissing her madly. He remembered he still hadn't kissed her this morning, and that only made him want it more. He felt her respond to his kiss, as she brought her arms around his shoulders.

When they pulled away, their pants could be heard through the silence of the room.

"I didn't greet you properly this morning." He said with a small smirk on his face. She smiled for him, before starting a new kiss, which ended faster than the other one.

"Neither did I..." she whispered.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked her, as the smirk was replaced by a small yet genuine smile.

"Yeah..." she said, as she pulled his raven hair away from his face. "And why did it take you so long to love me back?" she said with a serious expression on her face...maybe hurt. She suddenly remembered how much she suffered because of him, and she felt the urge to push him away and treat him the way he did.

"It wasn't easy for me, either..." he said as he grabbed the face that looked away. She was forced to look in his eyes again, and noticed the smile plastered on his face "I've changed, Sakura..."

She put a sad smile on his face before answering "I know...and if your feelings are as strong as you want to show, I'm sure you can wait until I'm ready..."

She got up from the bed and went towards the window again. The sunrays that infiltrated the room, glittered on Sakura's skin, as she was only dressed in a pair of shorts and a shirt. She looked...like an angel...an angel that had the ability to make him smile again...

And he knew that she remembered the past they shared...his indifference...his ignorance...his ability to cut off any other bonds that made him _weak_.

He knew that it must be hard to accept him just like that, or to realize again that she loved him...because he knew that she loved him...her actions spoke for herself.

He suddenly wondered if it wasn't possible for him to become stronger in Konoha. By looking at his friends he realized he could have gained power there too...it might have been a slower process without Orochimaru's drugs and hidden techniques, but it was possible.

By looking at Naruto and Sakura he almost regretted his choice of leaving, but the need for more power and revenge made him blind and he searched for the fastest way.

Sasuke got up from the bed and made his way towards Sakura, who was still standing in front of her window. He turned her head around and kissed her on her cheek.

"I'll let you alone to think about us...I'm coming back later." He said before putting another kiss on her cheek and leaving Sakura alone in the room.

Once he was out, she put her hands in her hair, as tears gathered in her eyes, but never fell.

"I'm so stupid..." she whispered as she looked back towards the bed she and Sasuke shared last night. She cursed herself for not knowing what to do. Even if she loved him, it was hard to forget the tears she cried for him, or the promise she made to get over the crush she had for him. And now that he loved her back, it was even harder to remember those things.

Sighing, she went towards her bathroom to wash her face, when she heard someone knocking at her door. When she opened it, she found Naruto and Kakashi standing there.

"Huh?" she asked a little puzzled, especially looking at Kakashi. She wondered if Naruto had to wait for him, or they just met on the road.

"Yo Sakura...how are you?" the silver haired man asked with a visible smile from behind his mask, while Naruto didn't stop grinning. She giggled at their antiques, and was suddenly aware of the nonexistent pain in her chest.

"Better..." she said as she let them enter her house. "Don't tell me you missed me so much that you couldn't help but come to see me..." she continued with a smirk.

"Well...we would have brought teme here, but he was nowhere to be found..." Naruto said, while Sakura had to stop the urge to laugh at this.

"Looks like you are as good as new today..." he continued.

"Yeah...I've performed a healing session today..." she said as she sat on the couch next to him.

"You were able to control your chakra?" Kakashi asked, with a sudden curiosity, while Sakura had a big dilemma running in her mind; tell them Sasuke helped her, or not?

"Tsunade-sama's treatment actually worked better and..." she sighed "Sasuke's been here...he lent me his chakra to perform the technique..."

"He actually did that?" Naruto asked in disbelief. Sakura nodded.

"He really has changed..." he continued, still shocked. But he was shocked mostly because Sasuke came at Sakura on his own will and helped her just like that.

Kakashi was staring at the floor, not knowing what to make of this situation. Then, out of the blue, Naruto started laughing.

"My, my...he was actually earlier than us..." he said, as Kakashi chuckled.

"So...you did meet each other...Naruto, was he late?" Sakura asked as she put a smirk on her face, while she prepared a fist for their former sensei.

"Easy, Sakura..." Kakashi said waving his hands in the air, defensively.

"Actually...he did come in time..." Naruto said with a smirk on his face, while Sakura giggled.

"Wow...you must love me very much if you weren't late..." she said, eying the silver haired man.

"You know I always loved you...I mean...who doesn't love you?" he replied.

The times when they would afford making jokes like this, were more and more frequent as they got to know each other and got closer, and so team 7 was now, more like a family.

"Why don't you come with us tomorrow, at Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked the pink haired girl.

"I don't know..."

"Come on...we have to celebrate your recovery..." Naruto grinned.

"Is my recovery that insignificant that we will celebrate it at a ramen stand?" she said with a false pout

"Ne...Sakura..." he tried to find a solution, but was interrupted by Sakura that pulled him into a hug.

"Of course I'll come, silly...I just hope that Tsunade-sama won't call me tomorrow..." she said as she pulled away from him.

"I'm sure she will let you have a few free days..." Kakashi said with a smile.

"And therefore...a few more free days for us too." Naruto said with another grin.

Sakura looked at him, worried and confused in the same time.

"Naruto...I thought you hated sitting around, having no missions."

"I think I might make an exception for you." he continued with a smile "it was hard for us too, to see you lying in a hospital bed."

"I know..."

"I heard that even Sasuke was worried." Kakashi said taking a sip from the water, Sakura brought him.

At hearing his words, it felt as if she received another weight on her heart, for asking Sasuke to give her some time.

"Don't tell me..." Naruto said with a frown.

"Tell you what?" Kakashi asked back.

"Don't you find it weird that Sasuke is acting like that lately?"

"And how exactly is he acting?" Sakura asked as she eyed Naruto.

"Oh come on...don't tell me you didn't notice...even before you got sick he was treating u nice...and now...you're telling me that he came at you? What exactly did you guys do, anyway?" he asked back with soft smile.

"I told you what we did..." she said, trying to suppress the urge to laugh. If he found out he spent the night holding her in his arms, he might have a great shock.

"And what's with this interrogation anyway?" she asked.

"Uhm...I'm just curious to know how the teme feels, that's all..." he said with an innocent grin on his face.

"Hm..." she muttered as she stood up, wanting to go to the kitchen.

"But even if I admit I would like to see you two, together...I can't help but feel the need to protect you, in case he might hurt you again." He said, this time serious "I know he has changed Sakura, I heard from one of the nurses that he was strolling through the hospital, the first night after he woke up, and I am not that stupid as if to not realize what he was doing..."

She was standing still in the doorframe, staring at the floor, with two pairs of eyes watching her.

Kakashi went quite silent, after deciding to let Naruto speak his mind. After all, he might get answers for his own questions too.

"And I got one more question Sakura...if he loves you back now...are you willing to love him again?" he asked as he stared at her, trying to see something from her behavior since she didn't say anything.

He wanted his friends to be happy, but he was afraid for Sakura to get emotionally hurt by Sasuke again. He also knew that she changed too, and she didn't show signs of loving Sasuke anymore. And that was what he feared the most...that now that Sasuke might love her back, she won't be able to share the same feeling with him...he was afraid that one of his friends might get serious injuries.

"Do you still love him Sakura?"

She looked up at him, and gave him one of those kind smiles, that only she could give.

* * *

After he left Sakura's apartment, he felt the need to go for a walk, anywhere away from people. He wanted to sit somewhere, where nobody could disturb him, and think of the recent events that caused such a tempest in his mind.

He was glad that Sakura still had feelings for him...even if she didn't say it...she showed it through her behavior.

After minutes of walking, he came across a small pond in the forest, and stood on a mossy log, that laid there scattered on the grassy ground. It was a beautiful scenery that only Konoha could give. Only in Konoha he could see the nature in its most marvelous shape.

His mind kept traveling towards Sakura...his love. He smiled at the memory of waking up next to her, or the belated kiss they shared. When they kissed he knew she still loved him, even if she wore an inner fight with herself.

He felt like a stupid child that kept smiling when he received a candy and his heart beat accelerated. He felt jus like that...and he chuckled.

Why did he laugh anyway? Whoever might pass nearby might think he was insane. But he knew one thing...his love for Sakura grew to an insane level and he found out he didn't care as long as he had Sakura by his side.

And these free days he had, only made him realize how deeply he was in love with her. He was so in love it made him laugh.

After staring at the pond for a while, he noticed the sky was getting darker, signaling that nightfall was getting closer.

He stood up from the log, and his gaze traveled back towards Konoha. Perhaps he left her enough time to think about it...


	11. The green dress

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**XI. The green dress**

By the time he had reached her apartment it was already late afternoon. When he knocked at her door, nobody answered. He checked for her chakra inside of the building but he couldn't find a trace of it.

He was a bit worried at first. She barely made a recovery and he wondered if it was wise to walk on the streets this soon. But he remembered the healing session he helped her with, that morning and he realized she was no longer in danger.

So, he concluded that she must be somewhere around the village. Maybe she was with the Hokage, giving the latter the news of her recovery.

He suddenly wondered if she was going to put his name in these events. The Hokage would know that Sakura didn't have enough available chakra to use for her complex technique. He assumed that Tsunade would suspect that someone helped her. He wondered if she was going to ask about it, and if Sakura was going to tell her the truth.

But then again, why shouldn't she? It wasn't as if it was something forbidden, to accept his help.

He walked away from her door, not knowing what to do next. He had no missions for a couple of days and he wondered what he was going to do all that time. Training, spending some time with his teammates...Sakura...

-x-

"You're telling me you're completely out of danger right now?" Tsunade asked her former apprentice, walking towards her.

Sakura sat on a chair in front of the desk and Tsunade pulled another chair next to her, for a simple check-up.

"And how exactly did you do that?"

She let her chakra examine the pink-haired woman's body and was surprised to see none of those anomalies she had in her chakra and therefore, her body. Sakura looked healthy once again, and a smile appeared on the old woman's face.

Sakura noticed this too, and she let a smile of her own before answering her former shishou's question.

"You see...somebody helped me as I came up with an idea." She said as she watched Tsunade's expression that revealed her curiosity "Believe it or not...it was Sasuke."

She said as she barely contained her giggles when noticing Tsunade's shocked expression turning into an angry one.

"And you left the hospital to wait for him to lend you his chakra?" she yelled at Sakura. The latter didn't expect this outburst.

"Sooner or later I would have come up with an idea to solve my problem...you know I don't like depending on others...that's why I didn't want being here."

The young woman explained, with small pout. Tsunade's face softened a bit at the woman in front of her.

"And I didn't ask him to do this either...He was surprisingly at my place and offered me his chakra to use when the idea for the jutsu struck me." Sakura said softer.

"What's with you two lately?" Tsunade asked her with a visible frown on her face. Sakura still looked at the ground.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Tsunade repeated raising an eyebrow.

Sakura remained quiet, not looking in the Hokage's eyes. Tsunade sighed loudly.

"Whatever your choice is, I would recommend you to think wisely about it." She said. Sakura looked up at her, a little indignant at her words.

"You don't know how much he's changed." She answered back.

"I do know...and you should know better than me; that's why you have to think wisely."

Sakura looked puzzled at this.

"If you still love him, give him a chance..." Tsunade said, looking at Sakura with a hidden smirk "Now, get out!" she yelled.

-x-

"Sasuke." He heard him yelling from the distance. He could already see the grin the blonde had on his face as he approached him from his back. He slowly turned around, to be met by Kakashi and Naruto.

"Naruto." He greeted the blonde the same way as he did to him, while nodding at his former sensei.

"Hey...we're going for the training grounds...I also found a usually late former sensei on my way there." Naruto said as he grinned widely. Kakashi chuckled before saying something too.

"We aren't the only ones coming there...the other teams might also be there." He said.

"So, we aren't the only ones without missions." Sasuke said.

"For the moment, it is true." Kakashi answered.

"Most of the teams are staying in the village for now."

"Why?"

"Offensive matters, Sasuke." Kakashi answered before walking away.

The other two had no other option but to follow him. Naruto still grinned from time to time, remembering how he found a 'lost' shinobi. After all, it wasn't every day that they will get Kakashi at time.

When reaching the large training grounds, they could spot team Gai over there, as well as Kurenai's.

"Well almost everyone's here." Naruto said "Where is Shikamaru's team anyway?"

"Well...they did got a mission." Kakashi said. The other two nodded before walking on the training grounds.

They couldn't even take a step further, before shuriken were shot from inside the woods. The three targets easily dodged it, before putting themselves in a fighting stance. They took steps backwards before Kakashi's feet touched a wire.

"Don't move anymore." He yelled, as he pulled up his headband, revealing his Sharingan eye. He scanned in the woods for a source of chakra, as Sasuke did, but found none. He looked down at his feet and noticed the wire his feet touched.

"Kakashi-sensei, what...?" Naruto barely asked before noticing the wire connected with his foot.

He swallowed hard, looking back towards the woods with a frown on his face.

"Who the hell...?" he began yelling before being interrupted by a feminine laugh.

Sasuke remained impassive as he recognized the voice.

"You should know better than to fall for traps like that, Kakashi." She said as she cut the wire, after making sure nothing was going to happen by doing so.

Kakashi let out a soft sigh before looking at the grinning woman next to him.

"You were the last I expected to fall for it."

Pink hair, green eyes, pale skin, jounin vest, black shorts and shirt...it could only be his former female student.

"I told you once I was expecting you three to surpass me, but maybe you should take things easier, Sakura." He replied with a tint of sarcasm at the last part of his sentence.

Sakura laughed again, together with Naruto this time.

"If it isn't Sakura..." they heard Tenten saying as the other two teams approached them.

"You're back already?" Kiba asked as he chuckled, making Sakura a bit enraged by his question.

"Is that how you all missed me?" she replied with a pout, barely controlling the urge to send a punch in Kiba's direction.

All of them laughed or giggled, as everyone told her how glad they were for having her back.

The training session started no longer after that, each one taking different opponents.

Lastly, but not the less important were Sakura and Sasuke. Kakashi himself made up the opponents for that spar.

The two of them, kunoichi and shinobi, already spared with others from the other teams, and were starting to feel a little tired. But this training was made particularly for this matter...stamina and endurance.

As they stood in front of each other, in the night coolness, they awaited for the start signal.

When they received it, they launched at each other. Kicking, punching, using jutsu and many other things were what could describe their battle. Despite their tiredness, they still fought against each other for an hour.

Sakura was graceful, yet fierce with her chakra laden fists. She hit Sasuke with one of her fists, and managed to immobilize his left arm.

He also landed some kicks for her and she had some cuts from his katana.

They landed feet away from each other, panting heavily.

The fight proved to be quite entertaining for the others, as they watched it with interest gleaming in their eyes and maybe...awe.

"I think we should call this an even match." Kakashi said as he looked at both his exhausted students.

At hearing those words Sakura simply collapsed on the ground, leaning back on her elbows. She was simply exhausted. Not only she had a serious healing session in the morning but the fights before the one with Sasuke simply drained her.

She looked up again and noticed the hand that was put in front of her. The hand belonged to Sasuke, as he smirked down at her.

"You should go home." He said as he managed to control his harsh breaths.

After she managed to breathe more normally she put her hand in his and he pulled her up, quickly, making sure she would lose balance and would have to lean on him. Which actually happened.

Almost stumbling from the quick and forceful movements she had no other choice but bump against Sasuke's chest.

He gladly put his arms around her waist, looking around him, at the stunned figures of his friends with a suggestive smirk.

She stared at him with wide eyes, before relaxing. She didn't dare to look around her; instead she just stared at him, which made him look back at her.

He leaned over her, and whispered in her ear "Let's go somewhere else."  
And with that being said, the two of them disappeared in cloud of smoke.

No one dared to say anything, but just stared at the place the other two had been just a moment ago. Who could have guessed the Uchiha guy would be so bold.

"What...the...HELL?" Naruto was the one who broke the silence. He didn't know the Uchiha's intentions with her, that's why he felt angry all of a sudden.

"You have nothing to worry about." Kakashi said to him, with a serious look, making Naruto think over again about the whole situation.

Naruto immediately remembered Sasuke's behavior during the past days.

If he was showing affection towards Sakura, that only meant he was feeling affection for her. As the blond thought about it more, he realized Sasuke would never hurt Sakura again.

Even when they were genin, he had never tried to hurt her. He was always willing to protect her with his own life and now that he thought about it better, by always telling her how weak she was, Sasuke was only giving her a reason to become stronger...a determination.

Even if he left her, that night, on the cold bench, he could have easily just left her on the ground.

Now, that he thought about it better, he realized that now his intentions couldn't be bad. Sasuke actually had feelings for her. Judging by his recent behavior he realized that he actually began loving her back.

Naruto began wondering when did those feelings appeared. He could easily say that everything began when they were genin, judging by his desire to always protect her.

But that didn't matter anymore, as long as he had feelings for her now.

He realized he should no longer be worried that Sakura might get emotional injuries from Sasuke again. Sasuke would protect her this time.

The frown was replaced with a genuine smile. Naruto smiled, being happy for his best friends

-x-

"Who do you think you are, for giving such a show to them?" she asked with a small pout, as he released her from his arms. He stared at her before answering.

"Is it so wrong to display the feelings I have for someone I love?" he asked her.

Sakura looked up at him again, surprised that he actually used the word 'love' when addressing to her.

"Did you think well enough?" he asked as he put an arm around her waist bringing her closer again. He put his chin on her shoulder, watching the wild forest behind her, as he waited for her answer.

She could say she was a bit taken aback by his actions, but he had his own reasons for doing so. As she put her arms around his shoulders, she smiled, closing her eyes.

"I'm ready to give you chance." She whispered, pulling a bit back to look at his face. She waited no longer as she glued her body to his, and kissed him with all the affection she had been trying to hide all those years. His hands caressed her back as he responded to her kiss with the same passion and love.

They would finally have the chance to no longer hide their feelings. He could already imagine her, staying in his house, clad in a tight green dress, showing the woman she was, while he was going to give and receive all the love he had missed for so many years...


	12. The puzzle of an insomniac

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**XII. The puzzle of an insomniac**

Something in his heart stirred when she told him about her decision...something in his heart stirred at the thought of sharing tenderness with her...something in his heart definitely stirred as he realized he was permitted the chance to be happy again.

After coming back to Konoha he began feeling better. Killing Itachi, his brother, brought content in his heart, for having avenged his family as well as all the murders he committed. But now, he found himself as the lone Uchiha. He was the only one alive and he often felt so lonely because of that.

Not only did the accomplished revenge brought him content, but the exact moment he realized his brother was dead, his eyes saddened and he felt a weight on his chest. It wasn't regret what he was feeling, but rather grief for having killing his brother, someone with the same blood as his. Of course he hated Itachi for what he did; for destroying his life...for the trauma he brought him.

But the images of his child self, while the clan was still alive and he was still getting along with Itachi replayed in his mind.

After the murder of his entire family, his heart shattered and from then on he had to live, while collecting the tiny pieces of his heart.

He grew up and the number of those collected pieces increased, as the heart he once had began having a shape once again. But as Itachi made his appearance again, he was reminded of that night and he lost those pieces again. Eventually he left Konoha with nothing but the shade of his heart.

The years he spent with Orochimaru at Otogakure did nothing to change that.

Only after he killed his brother and returned to Konoha did he feel any better.

Together with his friends he began searching for the shards he lost and step by step he began finding them and rearranging them like a large puzzle.

They helped him move on, but his memories would still plague him, day or night. The time of day was what counted the least. If he would not space out during day, remembering Itachi's face when he died, he would dream it at night, or the massacre that took place years ago.

That was at the very beginning of his return. As the years passed, he would find himself thinking more and more rarely about his past.

He was pleased of his current life. Even though he had no family, which still pained him, though, he could consider himself lucky that he had friends on which to count on.

The pieces of the puzzle, he called his heart, were still not completely arranged...but his heart had a shape somehow, and he reached that far with the help of Naruto and Sakura who never once left him when he most needed.

And he knew exactly why they will never manage to gather all the pieces to form the puzzle of his heart again. Because there will always be an empty spot that his family once covered.

There would always be that spot in his heart that nobody will ever be able to fill it...and he didn't want to. He wanted that spot to stay untouched, as he never wanted to forget about his family. As contradictory as his thoughts were, but he never wanted to let go of his mother and father, even if it were just in his mind.

And with Sakura at his side he hoped...no...he really thought things would get better.

The affection his friends gave him was the affection that only friends could, or maybe brothers.

But Sakura's affection as a lover promised a totally different thing.

His mansion was so deserted that he recently began wondering why he still lived in such a large place. He could sell it, or if not, at least move to a more proper apartment for a single person.

But if things went well with Sakura, the large house he had would not feel so empty and cold anymore. She could warm up his entire place, and she could glue the pieces of his heart together, in a safer way.

He lay on his bed, still rapt by his thoughts. It was almost midnight and that was confirmed by the glance he cast to the clock on his nightstand. He found himself unable to sleep, with his gaze fixed on the dark ceiling.

He listened to the sounds from the outside, but all he could hear was the lullaby of those blatant crickets. The breeze would blow from time to time, causing the gentle rustle of leaves.

Why was he unable to sleep? The question ran through his mind until he found an answer. It was the recent events that allowed him no sleep. It was the chance Sakura gave him, the main reason of his insomnia. He believed he would have a peaceful night due to that thing, but his thoughts were proven wrong when he propped himself on the bed and his eyelids simply won't stay glued together.

He guessed it was the anticipation of their relationship that didn't let him sleep...the plans he made for the future.

He felt again like a small child, that couldn't sleep at night because he couldn't wait until the next morning to get outside and play with his friends, making plans and dreaming of what they could do as soon as they met.

That's exactly how he felt. He was the small child that couldn't wait until tomorrow to see Sakura and to have her by his side again. The bed felt immensely large and the blankets cold.

He closed his eyes again and stood like that for a few minutes. But sleep simply won't come.

He let a frustrated sigh and he began thinking if he couldn't do something else, rather than just thinking, if he couldn't sleep.

And it was then that he felt a presence. It was outside his door, and a hand slowly approached the door handle as to let no sound escape. No sounds...no nothing...only the presence that slowly entered his bedroom.

His heartbeat increased and just as he was about to get up he reconsidered the idea. A smirk played among his lips when recognizing the intentions of that presence.

He was no longer alone...neither was she...

-x-

As soon as she got home she went to the shower and right after that she went to sleep as it was already night. She thought about her decision well, and she realized that Sasuke had suffered too, not only her.

He deserved at least one chance and she decided to give it to him.

The darkness took over the room and she felt a little tired from all the action she had today. But most of all, she felt content at her change of mind. She slipped slowly under the covers and wrapped them around herself as she shivered slightly. She forgot to close her window, that's why it was a bit cool in her room.

But it didn't took her more than two seconds to warm the blankets with her body heat, and therefore to keep her warm again.

She closed her eyes but her mind was wondering at Sasuke. She suddenly wondered what he was doing at the moment. Was he asleep or was he still awake just like her? She couldn't know.

But as minutes passed she found herself still awake, despite her tiredness. She felt as if something was missing...or better said, someone. Was she missing Sasuke already?...Most definitely...

She opened her eyes again and gazed around her room...still as dark as before...

The moon caused the trees next to her window to cast shadows on the floor, while the moonlight that escaped the branches illuminated her room with such a faint light that it was barely noticeable.

And the uneasy feeling inside her chest only increased by the minute, causing a genuine turmoil inside her heart.

An hour later she couldn't stand it, and she got up from bed. She furiously kicked the blanket off of her, and stormed towards the bathroom. After washing her face with the cold water she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was acting childish...she was so in love, that not even sleep could get control over her.

She looked tired, but her body wouldn't go to sleep...she simply wouldn't.

So, she came up with an idea...

She didn't know how his reaction would be, but she assumed that he would be able to bear her for just one night, if he claimed his feelings had changed that much.

A smile appeared on her face, and she got out of the bathroom, and eventually her house. She only wore a pair of slightly baggy green shorts with a white tank top and she shuddered a bit in the night's cool air, before her body got accustomed and produced more body heat.

Nobody could be seen on the streets and so she didn't bother to change her sleeping clothes.  
She began walking in a direction she had deeply imprinted in her mind, the smile still on her face. She got nearer to her destination, and his large manor could be seen. Not having a second thought she kept going until she reached the front gate. She easily jumped above it, not even bothering to open it. She walked on the path towards the main door, gazing all around her. When she reached said door she tried it, but it was locked.

But she wasn't a kunoichi for nothing. A brilliant idea occurred to her and she had to suppress a loud giggle escaping her mouth. She concentrated chakra on her fingertips and as she touched the lock, it was immediately opened.

She suddenly wondered from where did such ideas occur to her.

Once the door was opened she stepped inside his house. She was slightly surprised to see no traps being place neither inside, nor outside. She thought he trusted too much his own strength and he didn't bother with such things.

She walked in the hall and she soon reached a room, from where his presence could be sensed. She heard the frustrated sigh he let, and she had to suppress another wave of giggles, as she realized he was having trouble sleeping too.

She slowly touched the handle, and opening the door, she could feel him tense for a second before relaxing. She could feel his smirk even before entering the room.

Once she did so, she was met by the same darkness from her room. But her ninja eye could still see into the darkness as well as the smirk plastered on his face as he looked straight at her, leaning back on his elbows.

She gave him a chaste smile as she approached his bed, while he raised his arm towards her...

-x-

He reached a conclusion while thinking. She was the same as he was. Both had trouble sleeping that night and the amusement of the whole thing reached him fully.

He saw her standing in his doorway, and the smirk couldn't be stopped from creeping on his face. She was clad in sleeping clothes, he thought as he looked over her figure.

She made a few steps towards his bed, and stopped right next to him, giving him a smile that he translated as an explanation for why she was there.

'Hey...I couldn't sleep either...maybe I could stay here.' She could say through that smile, or maybe 'You'll have to bear me for this night...'

Whatever she was trying to say through the gesture, he didn't think that much as he extended his arm towards her. When she put her hand in his, he wasted no time and swiftly pulled her towards him, just like he did on the training grounds. She fell on his chest in an instant, no longer being able to control her laugh.

Suddenly, any negative thought he had, simply dissipated...

He rolled them over, so the he was the one above her, looking down at her with a playful smirk. He didn't know why but he felt like doing all the stupid things in Sakura's presence, like it was perfectly fine to do so. And it was.

He then assaulted her jaw and neck with kisses, making her laugh even more as she put her hands in his hair. Her laugh filled up the room, he though was so empty, just minutes ago.

He stopped his assault, and looked up at her eyes, that began filling with tears, of joy or maybe from the laugh she had.

"Were you that alone?" he asked still with a smirk, as he held on her sides.

"What about you? You sounded very frustrated from outside your room." She replied, before leaning over to kiss him on the lips, an action which he immediately returned.

"I was." He said when they pulled apart.

"You _were_?" she repeated.

"Until you came over here." He whispered giving her a kiss on her jaw.

"Really?" she said just before she burst into giggles again. He looked up at her, with a confused look.

"And why are you laughing that much?" he asked with a slightly amused, slightly confused face.

"I don't know..." she giggled again "It's just funny how neither you, nor me couldn't sleep."

"Hn." He said as he kissed her mouth again, reducing her to silence.

He then rolled back on his side, still kissing her, as one hand grabbed a hold of his blanket and threw it over their bodies.

They pulled away again, only this time, Sakura didn't laugh anymore, and instead she just looked over Sasuke with such tenderness, that he felt like melting under gaze.

"Thank you for letting me stay." She whispered as she brought a hand to caress his face. He closed his eyes and put a hand of his own, over hers.

"You're welcome."

She smiled before snuggling closer to him, bringing her arms over his back, while digging her face in his chest.

He wasted no time as he let her engulf in his arms, arms that were placed firmly around her waist.

He kissed her on her forehead before placing his head above hers, closing his eyes again.

Suddenly, the bed wasn't that large anymore, nor was it that cold...

He could feel her heartbeat through his skin, and he was sure she could feel his too.

Suddenly, slumber didn't seem that far away anymore...

He was sure it was because of her presence next to him.

Suddenly his eyelids were glued together, and in a few seconds the insomniac was touched by sleep...and the puzzle of his heart no longer troubled him, since he had the perfect method of resolving it...by loving her, he was sure he could make it.

Suddenly, the daydream he had just moments ago, was replaced by the dreams of his subconscious. Dreams in which he and Sakura always shared a bed at night, and therefore the insomnia could no longer reach them, nor did the solitude...


	13. Turmoil

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**XIII. Turmoil**

He was glad he had found a new way of comforting...

The moment consciousness hit him, he was aware of the body that was glued to his, holding him in a strong grip even while she was in a deep slumber. Leaning over to touch her forehead with his lips, he squeezed her shoulders before trying to remove himself from the strong embrace.

Once he managed to do so, he looked at her silhouette that lay on his bed, under the covers. Her pink hair was messily sprawled on the pillows, as one arm lay on his side of the bed. He felt quite amused by the whole situation, but decided he had better things to do.

He went towards the balcony and right as he stepped outside he was met by an ANBU who handed him a scroll before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke quickly opened it and he read a brief message from the Hokage herself. Team 7 was needed for an A-rank mission and they had to head towards the tower for further details.

After throwing the scroll on a nearby table he headed back towards the bed. She was still sleeping, and that made him more curios. It looked as if she hadn't had a good sleep for weeks.

He leaned over her form again and shook her shoulders softly, though he knew that wouldn't wake her up.

"Sakura." He said in his usual tone.

Nothing.

"Sakura." He said a little louder and only then did she stir. He began kissing her as she slowly woke up, giving her one of her best 'good morning'.

Once she was awake she grabbed his face with her hands trying to deepen the kiss but he swiftly pulled away, with a smirk on his face.

At first, she looked confused, until a scroll landed in her lap. His movements have been so fast she barely noticed them.

"We have a mission." He said as he headed towards the bathroom.

When she got up from bed she noticed she was wearing her clothes from last night and she had to get proper clothes for the meeting with the Hokage.

A smirk on her own appeared as she headed towards the bathroom too.

* * *

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, together with two other ANBU made their way through the forest, now faraway from Konoha.

They had the mission to go to the newly found hideout of some dangerous rogue nins. Those ones were supposed to hold hostage a young nin from an influent family in Suna, and since their forces were quite few at the moment they had to seek help at Konoha again.

And Naruto couldn't be any happier, now that he had by his side both Sasuke and Sakura. He was sure the mission will be a lot easier since they were together again, not to mention the other two ANBU that joined their team.

As they leapt from tree to tree they were getting closer to the hideout and so more precautions were taken. They hid their chakra better, their speed decreased and more attention was paid to the surrounding area.

When they reached the hideout they prepared the radios and formulated plans to enter the said hideout. In less than ten minutes everything was ready and the signal to break in was received. The guard from the barely had any time to register what happened, as an arrow was shot in his neck. It held a lethal dose of poison so that he will be killed instantly.

But the problems soon appeared, as two rogue nins emerged from the building just as Konoha's team wanted to enter it, and seeing the corpse of the guard on the ground they got into their fighting stances awaiting the new attack.

"They used some kind of anesthetic on him." One of them said as he saw the arrow from the guard's neck. The other one nodded, focusing back on the surrounding.

Sasuke saw, in slow motion, how one's hand rose to its ear, to alert the ninjas inside. But with the speed of light he stabbed him with a kunai, while his comrades took care of the other one.

"They were weak." Sasuke whispered.

In less than a second they were standing near the walls of the hideout as Sasuke's Sharingan searched for any source of chakra nearby. When he saw no danger, he gave his teammates the signal to go inside.

Once they were in, they noticed a few gas burners on the walls that gave a dim light to the hall. The hideout seemed abandoned at first glance, but they knew some of those rogue nin were dangerous, therefore they should know how to hide they chakra.

An essential thing when you were a runaway.

When they reached a door, they could hear people talking on the other side of it, as well as many laughs coming from them.

Naruto pulled a small tube from one of his pockets and pushed it into the room, through a small crack the door had. He made sure to activate the tube before putting a safe distance between him and the door.

The laughs were still heard for a few seconds before the gas made its effect. Thumps were heard as the bodies fell on the ground.

"Poison gas." One of them tried to yell, or more like whispered to his already fallen comrades, before silence fell over.

Sakura, being a specialist in poisons, gave her teammates an antidote before going inside the room. Once they were in, they could see eight corpses on the floor, around a table full of sake and cards. Those rogues showed nothing dangerous at them, and Sakura got more and more curious about the mission.

In its details it said that the ninjas were strong and dangerous but it no longer seemed so.

"Let's head to the other side of the building."

Silence overwhelmed them as they carefully walked further down the hall, checking all the rooms they passed by, until only one room was left.

"He has to be here." Naruto said, referring to the young ninja being held hostage here.

And because the room had only one entrance made the infiltration even more dangerous.

The Sharingan searched for any source of chakra but there was only a faint one. It was probably the hostage. Assuming there was no great danger and checking the door for any traps, the five ANBU opened staring slightly agape at the room before them.

Everything was moist, the walls had small rivers of waters flowing down them, and in some places they could distinguish pools of blood that no one bothered to clean up.

A strong stench of decay made their ways to their noses as they stepped inside. Sakura rushed to the hostage's aid.

He was about fourteen, which disturbed her the most. His body was covered with several cuts that still bled the remaining of his blood. Bruises only accentuated his bad shape. His breaths were soft...almost too soft for a living person. His pulse was almost too faint too.

The internal damage on his body required immediate attention so she wasted no more time, and went to heal him.

The others checked the entire room for anything suspicious. Sasuke kept an eye on Sakura. Now that he knew how important she really was for him, he felt the urge to always protect her by any means.

She leaned over the body of the young nin, making hand seals for what he assumed was a complex technique. Green, glittering chakra swathed her hands, as they seemed to dance on several parts of his body.

He glanced at his other teammates, Naruto and the other two who were given the codenames Kenji and X

They seemed to have discussed about the situation at hand and soon after that the two left, leaving Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura tending the hostage in the room.

"They left to guard the outside of the building...just in case someone might show up." Naruto explained as he approached the watching Sasuke. The blonde pulled his mask away from his face, feeling slightly annoyed by the mask.

They continued to watch Sakura doing her best to reestablish the boy, as their senses paid attention to their surroundings. They could tell she was too concentrated to even pay attention to anything else.

At some point Naruto wanted to ask her how was the operation going but just as he opened his mouth Sasuke put a hand in front of him, signaling him to not say a word...a word that might as well be caught by Sakura despite her intense focus on the healing she had to perform.

At some point Sakura had one hand free, so she used it to quickly pull her own mask aside, while wiping her forehead with the back of her sleeve.

Nearly an hour passed since she began healing the boy and she didn't get impressive results. She didn't know what exactly happened to him, but it looked as if his body simply refused to accept her chakra. When it finally did, it was responding a lot slower than normally.

Whatever happened to him, it was made so that he couldn't be healed.

Luckily for him Sakura was an expert in such things so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

She continued to pump work her chakra on him, under the stares of her two teammates when Sasuke flinched.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Don't you feel it?" Sasuke asked back, scanned beyond the walls with his Sharingan for the sources of the chakra he just felt.

After a few seconds a frown appeared on Naruto's face, as he felt it too.

"Those chakra seem more dangerous now." He admitted while Sasuke nodded.

The black haired man walked over Sakura, squeezing her shoulder. She opened her eyes at his touch, staring up at him.

"We have company." He simply said, before turning his gaze on the body laying on the ground. She understood what he said and she quickly rose up bringing the body of the fallen nin with her. Having monstrous strength proved to be quite useful when having to carry somebody, and despite Naruto offered to help her, she dismissed him, since she had no problem carrying a fourteen year old boy.

They moved to the door, Naruto before them, followed by Sakura and Sasuke. Sounds from the outside could be heard as they carefully advanced to the entrance. Once they reached the entrance they could see X's body laying limp on the ground, next to another one that belonged to one of the foreigners.

Naruto quickly engaged into combat when seeing Kenji was outnumbered, while Sakura tried to make an escape to run behind a large tree. Still holding the boy's body she felt a kunai being thrown at her. She easily dodged it but as she did so, she felt a presence right next to her.

"Give us the boy back." He growled, but she paid no attention to it, as she launched a kick to his side. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kenji barely able to stand on his feet, Naruto performing a katon jutsu, while Sasuke withdrew his katana.

She focused back at the task at hand and to her dismay the man dodged her kick too. She tried to make his dodge as an escape but he quickly followed her behind.

And since Sasuke swore to always keep a close eye on her whenever he could, he could see right now the persistent ninja that followed the retreating Sakura, still carrying the injured boy. One last glance at Naruto told him he could handle the situation, and therefore he wasted no time in following Sakura too.

After all, she was the only medic of the team and being the only medic meant she was very precious to the team.

With a astounding speed he reached them shortly and before the man could notice his presence, a kunai was thrown at his chest. But unluckily for Sasuke that kunai happened to only land in his arm rather than his chest, thanks to the rogue's dodge. Said rogue turned around immediately throwing explosive tags to Sasuke while making a few seals.

In a blink of an eye those explosive tags surrounded Sasuke and he had to come to a stop.

Sakura threw a worried glance over her shoulder, her speed decreasing at the sight behind her.

She knew Sasuke was left no other way to escape. And looking at the boy she carried she was in for a dilemma. Her chakra was depleted from the complex jutsu she used to heal him. And if she wanted to help Sasuke she had to focus her left chakra at only one matter.

She couldn't help Sasuke while still holding on the boy. And if she left him on the ground she would let an opening for another nin to take him.

But she already made her decision as she continued on the farthest way from the hideout.

Sasuke inwardly cursed as he saw himself surrounded by dozens of explosive tags. When he thought of them he only associated them with something childish...anything but impressive.

And that's irritated him the most. That he might die blown away in pieces by some mere explosive tags. A simple trick he used when he was a child. Although summoning so many was definitely a step higher.

He searched for a myriad of escape routs but for now, none seemed plausible.

He saw Sakura glancing at him and he did not miss the worry in her eyes, nor the slowness of her movements as she did so.

But confusion emerged as she resumed her escape leaving him behind. When he saw her slow down he could swear she was going to help him out of this 'ridiculous' situation, as he considered it.

When she was out of his gaze he concentrated back on the situation at hand.

"Well then...I will leave you to deal with these." He said as he cast a glance in the direction Sakura went to "I have other business to attend to, at the moment." And then he was gone.

Sasuke cursed himself even more. He tried to sprint into their direction, thinking that maybe his movements would be way to fast for the tags to explode but it wasn't like that. The moment his feet touched on of the numerous wires, explosions could be heard and large clouds of dust appeared all around him. He didn't stop even though he could feel the burns on his back.

But thanks to his remarkable speed he was able to get out of there alive, or at least not having any large wounds, or so he supposed. He coughed as he unconsciously breathed the dust filled air. He continued further down the path Sakura took before a hand stopped.

"Sasuke." She whispered, as he leaned his head on her shoulder. "You should have waited for me."

"How did you get rid of him?" he asked as he looked up at her.

"Shadow clone jutsu." She merely answered, as her hands went to his back healing his larger burns, which were on his right shoulder.

But as she gazed behind him she realized something was missing...or more like somebody.

"Naruto?" she asked tentatively.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly but he quickly recovered.

"They were doing fine." He merely answered. The burns from his back were no longer painful and he assumed they were healed already.

She rested her own head on his shoulder, letting a tired sigh escape her lips.

"We should check on them...they probably don't know where we are." He said in her ear, glancing at the body of the young nin that lay on the ground next to them.

They broke the hug the next second and as Sakura leaned over to grab the Suna nin, Sasuke stopped her movements.

"I'll carry him...your chakra is quite low." He said as he gently pushed her aside and put the body on his shoulder.

Sakura knew he was right. He had more chakra than she did, and she had to preserve what was left in case the other might have serious injuries.

They leapt from branch to branch, heading back towards the hideout. When reaching there, they were met by a complete silence. The corpses of the rogue nins that that attacked them lay on the ground, together with the corpse of the other ANBU. Sakura immediately ran to him, fearing the worst, but when she found no pulse she sighed.

She barely got to know that nin and now he was dead. But she was somewhat grateful that it wasn't one of her closest friends, even though she knew such thoughts were selfish.

She surveyed the surroundings for the rest of the team, Naruto and Kenji and the worry seeped in her heart again.

"Where could they be?" she asked herself, as she opened her earphone. She called for them through the radio but they didn't respond.

"Dobe." Sasuke muttered as he put his hand in his hair. Sakura eyed him for a moment before she could feel Naruto's, then Kenji's chakra.

They immediately emerged from the forest stopping right in front of Sakura and Sasuke.

"Sakura...Sasuke...you guys alright?" Naruto asked as he put his mask aside.

"We should be asking this question? Where have you been?" Sakura asked irritated.

"We began searching for you as soon as we finished." Kenji answered before Naruto could.

They remained silent during their road back home. Sasuke still carried the young nin, while Naruto offered to carry their fallen comrade.

Within several hours they were back at Konoha. Sakura finished performing the healing jutsu on the young nin at the hospital but due to exhaustion she had fallen asleep with her head on her desk.

The Hokage was pleased with another successful mission from them, but a little grieved from the loss of the ANBU soldier.

Right after that Naruto and Sasuke found themselves walking on the streets of Konoha, talking about random things, and eventually Sakura.

"I bet she has already fallen asleep." Naruto said as he grinned furiously.

"Hn."

"She has either collapsed on top of that nin, or she went to her office for a better nap."

"She shouldn't overwork herself."

"Well...you do know she has a big heart."

"..."

"And that's exactly why we love her right?" Naruto said as he threw his arm around Sasuke's shoulders sending him a smirk "But maybe someone loves her for more than just her heart, right?"

"Tch." Sasuke muttered as he removed himself from Naruto's grip, seriously annoyed.

"And she just happens to love back that asshole." Naruto continued as he crossed his arms over his chest, still with the grin in place.

"Are you calling me a ..." Sasuke said as he sent a dark look at Naruto who sheepishly waved his hands in front of him.

"Hehee...sorry...I used the wrong word." He interrupted Sasuke who seemed to have calmed by now. Then...another devilish smirk appeared on his face. "Bastard."

And with that he ran away towards the hospital at top speed, Sasuke following close by.

* * *

"I told you." Naruto said as he rubbed his right arm. He managed to lead Sasuke to her office inside the hospital, where Sakura was sleeping with her head on her desk.

She began to slowly wake up because of the 'infiltrators' and she gazed at them through half lidded eyes.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"You owe me ten bucks." Naruto said to Sasuke, grinning, before turning back towards Sakura. "I'll leave you two alone." He said, giving each of them a wink. Right as he moved past the door, Sasuke slammed the door behind the blond, as his chuckles could still be heard down the hall.

"What was the bet about?" Sakura asked, stretching a bit.

"None of you business." Sasuke said as he approached her with a smirk on her face. His answer irritated Sakura, who immediately cast him a glare.

"From what I heard it had something to do with me."

"It doesn't matter." He said as he pulled her up from her chair, in a tight embrace.

"I still want to know." She said.

Next things she knew, was the touch of their lips, leaving her speechless once again. Life was finally becoming more pleasant. Being a shinobi often meant a short life span. Not all of them had the luck to discover love between ruins war left behind. Not all of them had the luck to live long enough to enjoy the love they have just discovered...and not all of them even knew what love was.

A word of four letters...just that. And so merciless criminals appeared, destroying carrying shinobi, and taking love from those who had it.

Sasuke and Sakura could consider themselves lucky, from then on...as they had found a priceless treasure in the shinobi world.

Their tenderness and passion reached higher altitudes with the pass of time, and they couldn't be any grateful to have lived that long.

Sasuke was by far the most joyous of the two. He had found a new reason to fight for his life too, not only for someone else's life. His new goal in life was named Sakura, and he could barely keep up with the leaps of love.

Every new step they took together brought more content and with every touch of her skin, he felt more like a normal human.

As he kissed her more passionately, he forgot about anything else, once again.

He was satisfied with what they have achieved as shinobi. Team 7 was brought a legendary status and he knew his family would be happy to know where he reached.

But he only now started to achieve higher ranks in the spiritual universe. He was capable of loving back again...and it was all thanks to his greatest muse...Sakura...


	14. Epilogue

_**THE NEXT GENERATION**_

**XIV. Epilogue**

-_Years later-_

The argent evening enveloped Konoha once more, giving the viridian trees a dark shade. The faltering sun already disappeared from the horizon, only exiguous sunbeams escaping the confinement of the hills.

The head of the medical department stood at her desk inside her own office, writing the last reports of her day. She began feeling the fatigue flooding her and she suddenly wished she hadn't stayed this long as she now craved to feel the embrace of his strong arms around her.

Unluckily for Sakura, she had to be content with her armchair for now.

"Why are you still here?" his deep yet tender voice was heard from behind her. She rolled her chair and he was indeed next to her slightly opened window.

She smiled.

"Well...there were so many things to do and..."  
"That's why you have subordinates." He casually said.

"Sasuke."

He knelt in front of her, resting his hands on hr knees.

"I don't want you to overwork yourself."

She put a hand over his.

"I..."

"Not in your condition."

She knew what he meant...she also knew that from then on she had to be more careful with her health...their health.

"Don't worry." She whispered before he touched her lips with his own in a solaced kiss. Putting a lock of her hair behind her ear, he wasted no time and easily picked her up.

She was going to say that she could walk on her own, being the stubborn woman he knew she was. But she never had the chance to do so, as her raven-haired lover kissed her once again.

He no longer cared that much to show emotions in public, especially if it had anything to do with Sakura, therefore he didn't give a damn if people saw him carrying her like that. But since the opened window was closer than the door, he chose the window.

Making sure to close said window behind him, he pungently leapt on the hospital's rooftop.

Though he didn't plan on wasting any more time in that place he decided to stay there until the last golden threads of the sun surrendered to the avid darkness.

Words were useless at that point. All they did was staring at the fading light in front of them, as Sakura snuggled in his arms...the arms of her loved one.

Once the last sunray dissipated and the benighted scenery enveloped them, Sasuke kissed her again and then left towards their home.

The air was cooler now and, judging by her faltering figure, she was glad Sasuke came to bring her home.

Reaching their destination didn't last more than a few minutes and he quickly brought her in the warm air of their house. He gently let her down on the floor, but leading her towards their bed with a hand at her back.

She smiled at his change in behavior. Every since he knew about it he was more gentle with her; not that he acted like a brute before. But now he seemed to think that she was made of glass and his need to protect her increased tremendously.

He released his hold on her as he went to slip out of his clothes. So did she and a moment later they found themselves in a maudrin embrace under the blanket.

Only the cadent ticking of the clock on the nearby nightstand was heard through the overwhelming silence of the room.

Sakura ended up enjoying this silence that seemed askew at first. Now she realized that this implied more profound things than she ever would have thought. Words were just a pathetic way to express one's feelings; lies...lies...and lies could be said so easily...

Therefore she understood him all too well. She knew perfectly well that his acts were better ways to show emotion.

And he couldn't be any more pleased than that.

The sound of the ticking clock was soon lost in a faraway world as their own dreams flooded the two shinobi...

-x-

He woke up due to the coolness of the sheets encircling him. She was out of bed for quite a long time and his body missed her body heat. Leaning on his elbows as he surveyed his bedroom he was for a great shock.

Her angelic silhouette was leaning over the railing in his balcony with a cup of steaming coffee in her hands. But what shocked him was the dress she wore...it seemed to be pulled out directly from his dreams...the green dress he often imagined her wearing...the green dress that showed her shoulders and her upper back...the green dress that was fluttering with each soft breeze...

It was probably just another of his dreams...yet, why did it seem so real?  
He got up from the mattress, finding his way towards her. Bringing a hand up to touch her back he felt the warmth of her skin through the velvety dress. The hand rose until it reached the back of her neck, entangling with the locks of her hair. Inhaling her maudrin fragrance he knew it wasn't a dream. He gently glued his body to hers, swathing her with his arms, but being careful to lay his hands on her stomach.

He could already feel it...the life growing inside of her slightly swelled abdomen. He couldn't ask for more...he now had the perfect life he once lost because of a _certain someone._ He now, had all the love he needed and soon there would be one more reason to live.

They had waited enough because of their career, and had agreed to take the next step in their relationship. They had agreed to dedicate their lives to other things too.

He reached to take the leading position in the Konoha Military Police Corps and he was very pleased by his new job. She also took a leading position in the hospital so they didn't have to worry too much about the other's well being.

And Naruto...he finally achieved his goal...he became Hokage; the sixth Hokage. The three of them became legendary...

Reflecting on how much their lives had changed Sasuke allowed a smile to slip on his lips. He felt the woman he most cared about, stir in his arms.

"How did you know?" he asked. When Sakura turned around she flashed him a smile.

"Know what?"

"The dress..." she looked a bit confused at first, but Sakura smiled again and then kissed his jaw.

"Let's just say that for once in my life I was able to read your thoughts." She said as she lowered her head to kiss his shoulder. He brought her closer.

She looked up at him just as he leaned over, intending on kissing her lips.

It was just like this every morning they were together.

"You're going to be late." The pregnant woman in his arms spoke.

"I don't care." He just said. In fact, he really didn't care about being late, as long as he had the woman he loved in his arms.

It was pure bliss to be together on a madid and cool twilight and he wouldn't exchange the life he now attained for nothing in the world. His house would soon be even more warmed by the presence of their child...their beloved child.

Nowadays, he would find himself smiling out of nothing. The fulfillment could be read on his face.

Giving her another chaste kiss, they turned their heads to gloat over the view in front of their eyes...the transcendent moment was alighted by the blazing sunrays...

_THE END_


End file.
